Hull KR v Leeds Rhinos: No family affair but Tony Smith influence seen in Rohan Smith

But fate has conspired against the Smith family with Rohan not arriving in time for the reverse fixture in late April and Tony sacked suddenly by Hull KR last month.

“I just missed him by one week,” said Rohan Smith. “I’d signed but I hadn’t arrived for the last match.

“I hadn’t actually thought about that; I’ve just been so conscious of playing Hull KR.

“It is probably disappointing. Maybe he’ll bob up somewhere else down the track and we can coach against each other.”

Tony Smith may be in the rugby league wilderness - at least for the moment - but his influence can be seen in the way Rohan goes about his business.

After the worst start to a campaign in the club’s history, Leeds have enjoyed a remarkable resurgence playing the kind of adventurous, attacking rugby that was the hallmark of Tony’s time in charge in the mid-2000s.

The pair also share the philosophy that each game carries the same importance regardless of the bigger picture.

“It’s the most significant because it’s the one we play this week,” said Rohan Smith.

“It’s vital and it means everything to us to go there and represent ourselves well and to continue to go about things the way we have been and see how that looks at the end of the game.”

While Smith is not a table watcher and focuses solely on performance, he will be aware that tonight’s opponents Hull KR are only two points behind his side in the Super League table.

Smith - seemingly not the kind of coach to engage in mind games - insisted the weight of expectation is on the Robins, bolstered by the return of key personnel in Ryan Hall, Kane Linnett and Mikey Lewis.

As well as fellow Leeds great Hall, Hull KR’s interim head coach Danny McGuire will come up against his former club.

“They’ll be going back to where they were a month or two ago with some veteran players coming back into the picture,” said Smith.

“They’ll be desperate and hungry. They’re playing at home and they’ve had a long turnaround compared to our short turnaround, so I think most things are in their favour.

“I don’t know Danny but his playing career speaks for itself. I don’t know much about him as a coach other than his players are playing with lots of energy and competing hard.

“I believe they’ve cranked the intensity up this week in preparation for this week’s game.

“I’m sure it will mean a lot to him to be coaching against his former team but we’ll be doing our best to make it an unhappy night.”

The Rhinos moved into the play-off positions for the first time last week thanks to a fifth win in six games but it came at a cost with Rhyse Martin, Aidan Sezer and David Fusitu’a all banned in the aftermath of the victory over Salford Red Devils.

Speaking specifically about Martin’s one-game suspension for dangerous contact following an innocuous-looking incident, Smith expressed his frustration at the disciplinary process.

“I think the severity of a lot of the charges is on the high end,” he said.

“To miss a game for a player at any stage is a major punishment. They train to play some more and it means a lot to them. We’ve got a devastated player who is missing a game for that.

“I think it’s disappointing for fans to miss the best players playing. We’ve lost three experienced and in-form players in one weekend for incidents that didn’t hurt or harm anyone.

“I understand the game is trying to protect itself from players being injured and hurt but it’s disappointing, particularly for Rhyse.”

The suspensions have left the Rhinos down to their last 19 available players for the trip to Craven Park, although there remains a question mark over Blake Austin.

The half-back has missed five games with a calf injury and will not be risked if he is not 100 per cent fit.

“We are weighing up what we do with Blake Austin, whether he’s ready to play or not,” said Smith. “We are still stewing on that.

“He has trained well the last few days but I’m a coach who’s always conscious of the longer-term picture as well, not just thinking of the short term.”