Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith weighs up how to handle 'unique athlete' Harry Newman after dream comeback

Newman, whose career has been ravaged by a series of hamstring problems, surged over for the Rhinos’ second try within two minutes of replacing Sam Walters on the hour mark, to the evident delight of both the player and the home fans.

“It’s obviously nice and fitting,” said Smith.

“Harry has been very patient and he’s trained really hard. The physio team have done a terrific job with him and our strength and conditioning crew have taken over for the last bit and have seen him through.

“He’s a unique athlete and unique athletes need to be treated as that, so we’ll dust off and review and see how he pulls up, and work out a course of action for next week.”

Newman’s try added to an opener from David Fusitu’a as the Rhinos belatedly sprang to life after a scoreless first half, with Tom Holroyd, Fusitu’a again and Nene Macdonald ultimately warming home hearts on a freezing night at Headingley as the Rhinos built on last week’s epic win at St Helens.

“We knew Wakefield would be extremely difficult to break down,” added Smith.

“Huddersfield found them hard to crack last week, and Catalans managed to undo them with their kicking. They competed hard and had a few injuries as the game went on, so we had to earn that.”

On a night that also saw James Bentley make an impressive return from injury, Smith revealed one potential negative with Ash Handley facing a few weeks out with an ankle injury after he was forced off midway through the game.

Wakefield head coach Mark Applegarth bemoaned his side’s failure to end a scoreless streak that now stands at over four hours, stretching back to the late stages of their opening-day defeat to Catalans Dragons.

And there was more bad news to follow with half-back Lee Gaskell set for weeks on the sidelines with a suspected torn pectoral muscle while Samisoni Langi is also sidelined after failing a head injury assessment early in the second half.

“I thought we were right in it until the first 10 minutes of the second half but we can’t just keep on playing that way, we gave four penalties away in that period and Leeds took full advantage,” said Applegarth.

“We lost Lee and Sami and they were two pivotal moments, but we have to learn to hang in there and stay patient and start scoring some points.

“It is early in the season and there are some positives I can take out of the game. I can’t fault anyone for effort but we need to get some more smarts and composure about us. And we can’t keep saying that, because we’ve got to start learning the lessons quickly.”