Leeds Rhinos v Warrington Wolves: Key game for Rohan Smith in pursuit of Super League play-offs

Rhinos began this weekend ninth on the Betfred Super League table, four points outside the top-six.

They have won nine and lost 12 of their 21 games so far and Smith, whose side face Warrington Wolves at Headingley on Sunday, admitted “a bunch of wins are going to be needed” to qualify for the post-season series.

He said: “If you end up with more wins than losses you generally make the play-offs. That’s probably the gauge to aim for, but it has got to start with one on Sunday, there’s no two ways about that.”

Three successive defeats have left Rhinos with it all to do, but Smith stressed: “I treat every game like a must-win and I encourage the players to do the same.

“Of course when the ladder pressure adds to it people can add a bit more importance to it, but every one is a must-win for me.”

Rhinos have not played since a 13-6 home loss to Leigh Leopards on August 4. Last week was their fourth break this season - because of England’s Test against France and the Challenge Cup rounds - and they have so far lost two of their three games straight afterwards.

“It has done us good as far as being able to freshen up and have a little break and really attack these last six weeks,” he said of the long gap between fixtures.

“Six weeks back to back at the end of the season is a difficult thing and maybe some of the clubs that went deep into the Challenge Cup - the semis or final - won’t have had much of a break.

“There could be an advantage there, but it is all about Sunday for us. It has been a good freshen up and we have got some good work done.”

Warrington are in an even deeper slump, having lost their last seven matches, six of them in the league.

Having won their first eight and been the early pace-setters, they began round 22 in fifth place and real danger of missing out on the play-offs.

Smith, though, insisted: “We know what their threats are and their strengths as a team. They have had some tight, hard games of late that they could easily have won.

“Looking at the result doesn’t serve us well, we are looking at who they are and what they are as a team and their strengths across the board.

“We had a good, hard game against them a few weeks back and we are expecting more of the same.

“We are going to have to be a bit better than we have been, but we have been there or thereabouts in pretty much all our games over a long period of time now.

“All of our games, bar round one, we have been well and truly in the game. That shows a level of consistency to a point and a level of competitiveness.

“We are striving to find a bit more in the execution stakes and find a way to grind out some more of those close games and be on the positive end of it.

“At some stages we’ve felt like we have perhaps earned a victory, but not executed enough for the scoreboard to say the same thing.

“We have tried to take some learns out of it. Everyone’s been very disappointed at times with the outcomes, but mostly the effort and intent has been there. Executing in critical moments has been the area we need to brush up on.”