Leeds Rhinos v Catalans Dragons: Rohan Smith compares Harry Newman to racehorse as he weighs up big call

Newman has been eased back in since returning from his latest hamstring injury earlier this month.

The 23-year-old came on for the final 24 minutes against Wakefield Trinity – his first hit-out of any kind in seven months – and marked the occasion with a try.

Newman started last week's clash with Castleford Tigers before being withdrawn at half-time in a pre-planned change.

When asked if Newman would play 80 minutes on Saturday, Smith replied: "We'll see. He's trained well but we'll make a decision closer to game time.

"He's already very fit. He's done a lot of work and specific conditioning and strengthening.

"It's just a graduated process as you would during pre-season by staggering your game time.

"If you're a racehorse, you wouldn't just go straight into racing a big race; you'd progress through with some shorter races. He's a bit like that."

Smith will look to his strike players to break down a strong Catalans defence, statistically the best in Super League this year.

The Dragons have won all five games so far despite a lengthy list of absentees, including Sam Tomkins, Mitchell Pearce and Sio Siua Taukeiaho who have played just two games between them.

Smith believes the early adversity has made Steve McNamara's side stronger.

"It's an interesting one," he said on the round six clash.

"They're obviously playing well and finding different ways to win. They've been very competitive every week, playing hard with a lot of control and discipline, although probably not as much last weekend (against Hull KR).

"They're a strong group. They've been missing a lot of their import players but have been playing really well. A lot of the French players have stepped up which is strengthening their squad.

"We're in for a battle and it's something we're excited about."

Whereas Catalans have hit the ground running, Leeds are still striving for the form that took them to the Grand Final in 2022.

The Rhinos have two wins from five games after suffering a disappointing defeat at Castleford last time out.

Asked where he wanted to see the greatest improvement, Smith replied: "Play the ball at the end of your carry. That was the thing that hurt us the most.

"We were in a good enough position without playing great to come home strong but we just didn't give ourselves a chance.

"That happens to every team at some point – you make some critical errors back to back on a slippery, muddy night. It's sometimes hard to get back."

The Rhinos will have a national audience as Channel 4 returns to Headingley for the first time since round one last year, a fact not lost on Smith.

"It's nice to play well in front of people watching but equally we'd want to play well if it was behind closed doors," he added.

"It's great for the game that it's on free-to-air TV. It's great for our competition and we'll be doing our best to make a great game of it and put on a good show so people are getting the best version of Super League."