Leeds Rhinos captain Cameron Smith

Yorkshire Evening Post

New skipper Cameron Smith says Rhinos' preparations for the new season are well ahead of where they were 12 months ago.

Transcript

00:00 Was that going to make any practical difference to you?

00:02 No, no difference mate.

00:04 I'm honoured and privileged to have that CX for my name,

00:07 but nothing changes for me from the personal game.

00:11 I'll just keep doing my bit for the team and encourage other people to lead.

00:16 You were effectively doing the job last year, weren't you, for most of the season?

00:21 Yeah, unofficially, just doing my role within the team.

00:26 There's also other leaders in the team who were doing the same role as me last year,

00:30 I was just doing a toss really.

00:32 But now, officially, nothing changes.

00:37 I don't think into it too much and just keep doing my bit.

00:42 A lot of this offfield has been doing this sort of media stuff.

00:45 Yeah, of course, media stuff. You get a lot of promos that I didn't have before.

00:49 Things like that, that's the only difference.

00:52 Do you enjoy that side of things?

00:55 Yeah, I don't mind it.

00:56 Like I say, it's part of the job, you can't avoid it.

00:59 Any chance you get to give back, I'm there to do it.

01:03 How are things shaping up?

01:05 Yeah, really good. Really exciting.

01:07 I think it would be good for us to have a hit out on Boxing Day and get some collision.

01:12 Get used to not just training it any day, but intensity all the time,

01:15 because obviously it's different to playing.

01:17 I think that's just what we needed.

01:19 I'm really excited, we've got everybody here now who needs to be here.

01:23 I think the next two weeks or so is about getting the new boys a stronger connection and go from there.

01:32 How are they setting in? They all seem to be good lads.

01:36 Yeah, really good.

01:37 Kicking them off?

01:38 Yeah, really good.

01:39 Obviously, I haven't seen too much.

01:40 The boys that I've played in the Super League, I've seen a lot of,

01:43 but the guys that have come away from the NRL, I haven't seen too much footy of them, obviously, because I've played.

01:50 But those people, they're absolutely spot on.

01:53 The conversation that we're having upstairs and the conversation that we're having on the field

01:56 is probably nothing that I've been used to before, so that's really exciting.

02:01 Are you excited about what this squad can achieve?

02:04 It looks to be a lot of talent.

02:06 Yeah, there's a lot of talent and the challenge is to be consistent and bring the best out of each other.

02:12 So that's what I'm going to try.

02:14 Personally, I don't like looking too far and I'm just looking forward to that.

02:23 Do you think it'll look good?

02:25 It's time last year with the early camp, you scored and everybody together.

02:30 Yeah, definitely, because we've come in a lot earlier.

02:33 We haven't had anybody play international, so we've had all the boys together from day one of pre-season.

02:40 So we've had plenty of time to do what we needed to do.

02:43 You missed the last game of last season, you were fully fit and that was nothing serious?

02:47 Yeah, no, nothing serious. I just needed a drain in.

02:52 I just didn't need to play and I wanted to get in and do what I needed to do.

02:59 So I'll be right for week one of pre-season.

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