Leeds Rhinos captain Kruise Leeming insists Rohan Smith has brought the squad closer together since his arrival at Headingley. The Rhinos produced arguably their best performance of the season last Friday, demolishing Warrington Wolves to reiginite their play-off hopes going into the second half of 2022.
Leeming was at the heart of that victory at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, and the hooker revealed the dramatic impact Smith has had since arriving from Australia. He believes creating more accountability among the playing group and taking things back to basics has been key to what Smith has done well since being appointed as Richard Agar's successor.
"He's brought us closer together," Leeming said while appearing on the Super League Show. "The main thing for me what he's done is make us so accountable. He's brought things up in video and you don't just gloss over it, he says it's not right and we need to fix it now. It's not personal, It's about getting the results.
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"How he goes into detail about what he wants from us individually, there's no room for grey areas." Leeming also believes that Leeds' young squad are benefiting from such a direct, simplified approach.
"You know exactly what he wants from you which is fantastic for a team with a lot of young players coming through who need a little bit of direction," he said.
"If you've got a team that's a bit more experienced you maybe don't have to spell it out, but we were crying out for it and it's brilliant. No matter how old you are, you want to learn and he's come in, stripped it right back and built some foundations.
"He's made it very basic and we're going to build from that. It's perfect and exactly what we need. It was a massive team performance and that's what Rohan has brought in. It's about the team collectively being stronger than any one player."
