Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur has revealed two standouts from pre-season training so far. The Rhinos have been hard at work for several weeks now, having undergone some brutal conditioning before breaking off for the off-season period.

And while Arthur, who enters his first full season in charge of the club in 2025, is impressed with his team's attitude and commitment this winter, he singled out the progress of a British forward duo, with James Bentley and Cameron Smith impressing the Australian in recent weeks.

Bentley enjoyed a strong run in the side at the end of last season, while Smith was appointed a co-captain of the club alongside Ash Handley. And Arthur didn't shy away from singing their praises when speaking to the media ahead of Boxing Day's Headingley clash against Wakefield Trinity.

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He said: "It's very hard to isolate one or two in particular; there are guys who have been good at different things throughout the course of pre-season, but James Bentley has trained really well. We've challenged him around his discipline. There were a few things we identified at the back end of the year, and he's worked really hard on those. He's been very consistent every session, and he's worked hard.

"Cameron Smith is also doing a lot of good things. He's looking a lot sharper under the football. Our forwards have done a lot of work physically to put them in a position where they're all fit, but they've also done a fair bit of work with Langers (Jamie Langley) in the contact room, getting up and down off the ground and the wrestle in the tackle."

Buoyed by a strong group, Arthur also praised several of his senior players, with half-backs Brodie Croft and Matt Frawley showing their leadership this winter. The Rhinos boss also spoke of the influence of Ryan Hall, who has returned to the club after stints in the NRL with Sydney Roosters and at Super League rivals Hull KR.

"It's easy for them to get comfortable and drop off, but they haven't," Arthur continued. "I haven't had to drive that; the players are leading that, in particular Ash and Cameron. We've got a lot of senior players in the team without having a leadership group.

"Crofty is a good talker, Frawls is good at driving standards, there's Mikolaj too, and Ryan Hall—he's come in, and he's shown the boys a level of professionalism and why he's able to play at 36 going on 37. He's shown the boys that level, and that's why he's still playing. He's training like a 20-year-old. He's going really well."

Arthur added: "I've seen all the right things at training, but as I reminded them today (Wednesday), it doesn't matter what we do on the training field; they're only going to get judged on what they do when they play.

"We can have some really good weeks, and if we play poorly, then we're only going to get judged on that. That's the nature of how it is. Sometimes you can have a bad week of training, but if you get the job done on the field, that's all that really matters, but all the signs are positive, and we're doing the right things; our attitude is good, but we haven't been put under any pressure yet or played a game. When we get put under pressure, we'll know a bit more about how we're travelling."

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