Salford Red Devils v Leeds Rhinos: Frustrated Rhinos are braced for challenge, says Cameron Smith

The former World Club champions hope to do that by winning at Salford Red Devils tonight.

Clearly it has been a frustrating season for Leeds, who have won just four of their opening 13 league games.

But they defeated Hull KR 28-24 last week – even if they had been 28-0 ahead before nearly throwing it away – and vanquished Salford 46-14 on their last visit to AJ Bell Stadium in February.

“We did a job on them earlier on in the year,” said Smith, “and it looks like they have built on performances since then and are a pretty strong team now.

“They look pretty sharp. I’m sure they will challenge us.

“We will just focus on what we can do right, not so much about them. If we get our things right I am sure we will be.”

Salford have won three of their last four games in all competitions including winning at second-placed Warrington.

But it is imperative Leeds – who won just one of their opening eight games – concentrate on themselves and cut out the sloppy passages of play that are costing them so dearly.

Hull KR almost embarrassed them with that fightback, which was the third successive home game where Leeds built up a healthy lead only to see it nearly overturned.

Smith said: “I don’t have the answers, I just think it’s a collective thing.

“It’s not down to certain individuals, I think it’s the team – we need to respect the ball and finish our sets a bit better.

“But other than that I think our offense is really coming on and we are looking good.”

The 20-year-old returned from a foot injury in the win over Rovers and continues to impress for Dave Furner’s side.

Smith said: “I loved being back. I have been itching to get out there for the past couple of weeks so it was nice to get back and even better we got the win.

“I was really happy with it. You feel it on the lungs a bit when you’ve missed a couple of games, but other than that I thought it was a strong performance.

“I am just trying to build on performances now and try to keep that spot.”