Rohan Smith (born 6 May 1981) is an Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

coach who is the head coach of

Norths Devils The Northern Suburbs Devils, or North Brisbane Devils, or often simply referred to as Norths for short, are a rugby league club representing the northern suburbs of Brisbane, Australia. The team colours are sky blue, navy blue and gold. They pl ...

and a former head coach of

Tonga Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands, of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in the southern Pacific Ocean. accordin ...

, the

Bradford Bulls The Bradford Bulls are a professional rugby league club in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, and compete in the Championship, the second tier of British rugby league. The club have won the League Championship six times, the Challenge Cup f ...

and the

Background

Smith was born in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and his the son of former Australian player and coach Brian Smith and nephew of Tony Smith. After his father was appointed head coach of the

in 1995 he moved to England as a teenager and played amateur rugby league for Stanningley ARFLC alongside future

Leeds Rhinos The Leeds Rhinos are a professional rugby league club in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The club play their home games at Headingley Rugby Stadium, AMT Headingley Rugby Stadium and compete in the Super League, the top tier of British rugby lea ...

player Jamie Jones Buchanan.

Career

Despite playing amateur rugby as a teenager, Smith never played professionally. His first entry to coaching was as Daniel Anderson's video analyst at the

New Zealand Warriors The Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as the Aucklan ...

when he was 21. In 2006, Smith returned to England to take up his first coaching role as assistant to

Tony Rea Tony Rea (born 25 July 1966) is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former head coach for Super League club, London Broncos. A former , he played club football in the Brisbane Rugby League for Brothers, in the New South ...

at the

London Broncos The London Broncos are a professional rugby league club based in Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon, England. They play their home games at Plough Lane and currently compete in the RFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of British rugby le ...

. After two seasons with London Smith returned to Australia to assist his father at the

Sydney Roosters Eastern Suburbs District Rugby League Football Club, known as the Sydney Roosters are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), Eastern Suburbs. The club competes in the National Rugby Lea ...

and the

Newcastle Knights The Newcastle Knights are an Australian professional rugby league team based in Newcastle, New South Wales that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership. Playing in red and blue, the Knights joined the top-tier competition in New ...

in the

NRL The National Rugby League (also known as the NRL Telstra Premiership for sponsorship reasons) is a professional rugby league competition in Oceania which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria (state), Victoria, the Austral ...

Tonga

Smith was appointed head coach of Tonga for three games in 2009 before returning to coaching roles in the NRL at

Penrith Panthers The Penrith Panthers are an Australian professional rugby league football club based in the Greater Western Sydney suburb of Penrith, New South Wales, Penrith that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL). The team is based west of the cen ...

and

Gold Coast Titans The Gold Coast Titans are a professional rugby league football club, based on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. The club competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership, Australia's elite rugby league competition. Since 2008, the ...

Bradford Bulls

His first head coach role came in 2016 when he was appointed head coach of

in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

Initially on a three-year deal, Smith's tenure was terminated in January 2017 as Bradford went into liquidation.

Norths Devils

Following Bradford liquidation, Smith returned to Australia in 2018 to become the head coach of the

in the

Queensland Cup The Queensland Cup, currently known as the Hostplus Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the highest-level regional rugby league, rugby league football competition in Queensland, Australia. It is run by the Queensland Rugby League, Queensland Rugby ...

Leeds Rhinos

In April 2022 Smith left the Devils to once more return to England to follow in his uncle Tony's footsteps and coach the

Upon Smith's arrival to Leeds, the club went from 11th on the table to 5th which qualified the club for the playoffs. Under Smith, the club won 13 of the 18 matches including upset victories over

Catalans Catalans ( Catalan, French and Occitan: ''catalans''; ; ; or ) are a Romance ethnic group native to Catalonia, who speak Catalan. The current official category of "Catalans" is that of the citizens of Catalonia, a nationality and autono ...

and

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a town in Greater Manchester, England. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. It is the largest settlement in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan and is its ad ...

in the playoffs. On 24 September 2022, Smith coached Leeds in their 24-12 loss to

St Helens RFC St Helens R.F.C., commonly known as Saints, is a professional rugby league club in St Helens, Merseyside, England. Founded in 1873, the club is one of the oldest members of the Rugby Football League, and one of the most successful clubs in its ...

in the 2022 Super League Grand Final. In the 2023 Super League season, Smith could not replicate what he did in the previous season with Leeds as the club finished 8th on the table and missed the playoffs. On 19 June 2024 it was reported that he would leave Leeds by mutual consent with immediate effect.

Norths Devils

On 10 Oct 2024 it was reported that he had returned to the role of head coach at

who play in the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Rohan 1981 births Living people Australian rugby league coaches Bradford Bulls coaches Leeds Rhinos coaches New Zealand Warriors coaches Norths Devils coaches Rugby league players from Sydney Tonga national rugby league team coaches