'Taken their opportunities': Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith hails youngsters ahead of Hull KR test
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Rhinos’ fourth and final first team hit-out comes 11 days before their Betfred Super League opener at Warrington Wolves and a week after they broke their pre-season duck with a 24-10 win over Bradford Bulls.
The coach is keen to see more of the same this weekend and insisted: “I thought it was an excellent day for being cohesive and playing team footy with lots of kids that were extending themselves into a place they hadn’t been.
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Hide Ad“There were lots of different combinations within the game and I thought we looked like a team throughout.
“There were a lot of pleasing signs and I think a lot of our young players have shown they can play at that Championship level, which is a step forward for them. They are on the right path to progressing and hopefully making our squad a bit deeper.”
Rookie three-quarter Luis Roberts, second-row Leon Ruan and full-back Alfie Edgell have all retained their place for this weekend.
“They have taken their opportunities, those young kids,” Smith said. “We will see who’s available for round one; we’ve still got a quite experienced crew available, even without the ones who won’t be playing.
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Hide Ad“We will see how we come through this week. We will be a relatively young team in rounds one, two and three as people progress back to full fitness.”
Smith has tried several players in unfamiliar roles during pre-season and that could continue tomorrow.
“Everyone who has played multiple positions has handled all of them well,” Smith said.
“They’ve spent a lot of time practicing them through pre-season and/or through their whole career at various stages. I don’t think anyone has actually played a position they haven’t played before.”
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Hide AdOf Rhinos’ approach to their final practice match, Smith vowed: “We’ll have the same mentality we’ve had with all our games.
“We’ll give players the appropriate game time we think they are ready for and they need. There’ll be some rotation of positions, it is another extended training session, really.
“I don’t know who the opposition are going to play and we won’t be previewing the opposition. We won’t be doing all those things we’d normally do for a regular competition game.”