Cameron Smith outlines major Leeds Rhinos ‘must’ for 2025

Cameron Smith in action for Leeds in 2024
Leeds Rhinos co-captain Cameron Smith believes his side must make the play-offs this year after two seasons of failure at Headingley.
The Rhinos defied the odds to make the Grand Final in 2022, but in the two years since have finished seventh and eighth respectively.
“Play-offs are a must” – Cam Smith issues rally call
The main issue plaguing the Rhinos in the past two seasons has been consistency. At times, they have played some truly wonderful rugby, notably thrashing Wigan Warriors as well as recording other big wins over Castleford, London and Salford too, but then that has been marred with heavy losses to St Helens, Warrington and Hull KR.
With that, Smith feels his own side have been the ones stopping them from achieving a top six finish, but ahead of the new campaign he feels play-offs are a ‘must’.
“Play-offs are a must,” Smith exclusively told Love Rugby League. “It’s really cliché to say, but the only team who can beat us, I believe, is ourselves.”
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He added: “There were numerous times (over the past two seasons) where we have beaten ourselves and not ended up in the play-offs at the back end of the year, so it is a minimum this year and I’m sure we’ll be up there and competing come the end of the season.”
Making the jump from eighth to sixth will be a big one for Leeds, especially with the competitive nature of the league and the recruitment from teams like Catalans, Hull KR and even Wakefield Trinity, but Smith feels they have drawn on the positives from last year and combined that with a new focus under new coach Brad Arthur.
“We’ve taken confidence from parts of last year, we run a lot of teams close and should have beaten teams who were competing for the Grand Final,” he said.
“Brad came in and changed the way we were playing, but we should have picked up some more wins, and the squad we’ve got already thinks about playing in the play-offs.”
He added: “I don’t think we’ll need a switch, we just need to focus on us.”
New look pack excites Smith
Whilst an attitude change will be crucial to their improvement this coming season, as Smith alluded to, Arthur has brought in some power and speed to the pack.
Keenan Palasia and Cooper Jenkins have both made the move from Australia to join the project at Headingley this year, and Smith feels these additions are just what the team needed to bulk out the middle unit.
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“Both sides of the ball, we’ll be better, having a physical presence is good,” Smith told LRL. “The game is black and white, if you’re more physical than the other team you’ll probably come out as winners. We’ll be a lot more physical than we were last year.”
“I think we’ve lacked a little bit of punch in the last couple of years, but we’ve certainly got that now in the players we’ve brought in – and the people that were already here.”
He added: “It’s exciting for me as a ball-player to be playing with some bigger bodies who want to carry hard and break tackles.”
Even around the pack recruitment, the additions of Ryan Hall and Maika Sivo should bring even more power and speed to their attack, and add in the maverick touch of Jake Connor then you’re looking at a seriously threatening side.
“Now, I think there’s a well-balanced team with strike all over the park,” Smith continued. “Each person brings their flair in the system. I think we’ll be alright.”
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