Leeds Rhinos co-captain Cam Smith is confident of being fit enough to join in full training by the end of the calendar year.
The 2025 Super League season was a testing one for Smith as he missed a huge amount of game time due to a couple of injuries. The forward still made 12 appearances and scored four tries but his impact over the course of the campaign was limited.
He was forced to go under the knife for the first time in February, with an ankle reconstruction needed. And, after returning to the fold in May, he played his last game in mid-July, with a back injury ruling him out of the business end of the campaign.
Smith had to have surgery on that injury, too, and he is still working towards a recovery from that. As such, while Leeds are now in their second week of pre-season training, he is yet to join in fully with his teammates out on the field.
The loose-forward has been working hard in the gym but he has a few more weeks to wait until he can jump back into training, with Leeds‘ warm weather training camp in Tenerife next month targeted.
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“I’m super excited to get back in,” Smith, who has been awarded a testimonial ahead of the 2026 season, told the Leeds Rhinos website. “I had a bit of a distorted year and I didn’t feature as much as I would have liked so it was nice to get away after having the surgery I’ve had.
“I’m extremely grateful to be back in and most importantly, I’m really appreciative that I’m healthy.
“I had two surgeries, the first one was on my right ankle, I had a full reconstruction and that was in round two. That put me out for about 12-14 weeks. The latest one which I’ve struggled with for a while, nothing crazy, I needed a bit of a disc extracting out of my back which was causing me quite a bit of pain. I’m grateful that all that’s finished and I’m on the road to recovery.
“I’ve been in rehab when the lads have been on their break. I’ve had a week in Tenerife and then I’ve got four weeks of solid rehab before we go back to Tenerife on pre-season camp. Hopefully I’ll be back in full-ish training for Tenerife.”
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