Leeds Rhinos Grind Out Win Over Determined Salford Red Devils The vagaries of the fixture computer threw together Leeds Rhinos and the Salford Red Devils with Paul Rowley’s side having to face their two key play makers of 2023 in the colours of their opponents, with Brodie Croft and Andy Ackers making their Rhinos debuts. It was a new look Rhinos side with several arrivals, and departures, over the close season and Salford had to look to build again in 2024 after losing a few of their key players over the winter. The visitors were given a big ten-point start on the handicap coupon with the bookies and pundits alike giving them little chance of a first round win, but that’s exactly the odds that the Red Devils like and Rohan Smith will have warned his charges about complacency as his Leeds side look to live up to pre-season expectations. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

Leeds Rhinos Grind Out Win Over Determined Salford Red Devils The vagaries of the fixture computer threw together Leeds Rhinos and the Salford Red Devils with Paul Rowley’s side having to face their two key play makers of 2023 in the colours of their opponents, with Brodie Croft and Andy Ackers making their Rhinos debuts. It was a new look Rhinos side with several arrivals, and departures, over the close season and Salford had to look to build again in 2024 after losing a few of their key players over the winter. The visitors were given a big ten-point start on the handicap coupon with the bookies and pundits alike giving them little chance of a first round win, but that’s exactly the odds that the Red Devils like and Rohan Smith will have warned his charges about complacency as his Leeds side look to live up to pre-season expectations. READ MORE ON THIS STORY...

We lost so many games by around 6 points last year so will take it.Good to see Mik start with a good game and we seem to have come away with no injuries.
Nice guy as he is Donaldson should not be anywhere near the first 17 even with players missing. If nobody returning next week would much rather see Ruan

A bit to build on by a side that was less than the sum of it's parts tonight. Should be better next time. I think I prefer Bentley p1ssed up...

TNW should be getting a shirt over him, kid’s been great pre season

Really pleased with the win. Mom looks a good player but that was his first competitive match in ages.

Mik, Ash, Lisone great.

like last year we looked miles better with the forwards running direct and aggressive. miles better.
we just don't do it nearly enough

Scrappy and disjointed with and without the ball.

Some good individual performances, Lisone, Mik and Frawley in particular amongst some not so good from others.

I think there’s something there and can accept clunky play with a completely new spine, but we definitely looked better when we went direct.

FWIW I thought our much maligned prop rotation was good with the exception of Donno who tries hard but just doesn’t belong there. Mik and Goudemand were solid. Lisone was excellent and was complemented by Sangare imo.

Agree with all of that. Thought Salford were good to be fair to them, discipline cost them. Good game though and a wins a win early in the season.

As for new players. most were solid, not sure what to make of MOM thought he was all over place first half but improved. We lack punch when Donno Goudomomd on the field at same time. Lisone and Mik gave us much more.

Overall positive though in the main

It was great to see Headingley rocking again a healthy 15k tonight and hopefully the team can keep bums on seats with wins like tonight. Lots to work on but it's round 1 and that's to be expected, Miller will be a real fan favourite he looks dangerous nearly everytime he returns the ball. Glad we got the 2 points, Momirovski sin bin is a joke and I think we'll be in for a long season if tackles like his are going to be a yellow card offences but ow we'll. One thing for sure is Sam Lisone is the best on earth.

About what i expected with totally new spine.Donaldson will never ever be a prop.Lisone was the pick of our forwards and Handley the backs.Frawley i thought did okay and Croft who didn't have the best games will get better..Salford had a really good dig and may have been a game we would have lost last season.Much improvement needed but a win is a win, im confident we will improve match by match.

Good to get a win 1st game but we were poor for the majority of it. Out of the new signings I thought Millar looked decent at times. I accept it will take time for the attack to gel. Croft is a quality player, the challenge for Smith is to play a brand of Rugby that gets the best out of him in the way Rowley did.
Lisone gave some real impact from the bench and was a handful. Despite putting him in for his try Cameron Smith still got to 1st receiver too often and stifles the attack. Our forwards didn't seem to want to offload so we were very one out a lot. There is some quality players in the side though and we should have a bigger threat a few weeks down the line.
Handley was great bar the knock on. Showing again that he is the best winger at the club, scoring a try that Fusitua could only dream of.

I thought Metallica, just before the sides came out, were awesome. On the field clunk, clunk and more clunk for the first half. Those drop balls by the wingers really took the pace out of our game and allowed Sneyd to control things. Second we played with more momentum and Frawley did a excellent job speeding up our attack. Salford did a great job on Croft but Rowley is a very good coach and was always going to come up a good game plan. Just happy to get the win.

As many have said , good we got a
Win but disappointed so much of it looked similar to last season.
Too much ball in Cam Smith’s hands and nowhere near enough in Croft’s and Newman’s.
Salford made it scrappy.
Handley, Lisone excellent, good bits from Millar.
Tough test next week, thought HKR were very good v Fc.

Just got home from the game, I expected us to be rusty and we were. Disappointing errors and lack of punch from the forwards in the first half, but better in the second half. Handley’s first was a belter, his second from a lovely kick, and Sam Lisone showed how you run onto a ball for his try.

Different view of Frawley from me, as you probably expect, he doesn’t really offer anything. His first play was the poor penalty kick that didn’t make touch, and then whilst some will say he takes the line on, he’s so slow it’s completely ineffective. Let’s hope he improves, we need more than a simple pass to the next man from a halfback, and if that’s his idea of organising play it leaves a lot to be desired.

Forwards looked ‘ploddy’ to start with, and we got rolled down the middle a lot, but the aggression picked up a bit in the second half.

Overall a 5/10 performance, plenty to work on but 2 points in the bag.

I hope Smith has a look at what worked in the pack in particular. Now we've got through his testimonial emotion there should be no place for Donaldson in the 17, let alone starting, unless we're decimated by injuries. Based on that I'd look at both Ruan and TNW for next week. They both bring energy and aggression with the ball, which too many of our forwards lack.

The other thing is, and somebody mentioned this, but we need Cameron Smith to work out what his role is. He cannot be getting too much early ball at first receiver, as it stifles the attack. People said he did that last year because there were no other options, but frankly he needs to get out of the way of the play and accept he's not a playmaker but a ball handling forward.