Leeds Rhinos news: prop hunt begins, club hopeful as Brodie Croft talks continue
Leeds Rhinos have begun the process of replacing England forward Mikolaj Oledzki and remain hopeful star man Brodie Croft will sign a new deal.
Four of the current squad - centre Harry Newman, prop Oledzki, second-row James McDonnell and loose-forward Cameron Smith - have announced they will leave Rhinos at the end of this season. And on top of those departures, stand-off Croft is in the final year of his contract and being linked with a return to the southern hemisphere NRL.
With Oledzki contracted until the end of 2028 and Keenan Palasia and Cooper Jenkins having signed extended deals in pre-season, the front-row situation appeared stable. But that changed when Oledzki this week confirmed he will be activating a get-out clause which allows him to join Newman and McDonnell at new Australian club Perth Bears from next year.
The other three departing players, including Smith who will move to Betfred Super League rivals Wakefield Trinity in 2027, made their plans known in pre-season. That allowed Rhinos to begin the process of finding replacements, with Jack Bird having already been brought in from Wests Tigers as Newman’s likely successor. Director of rugby Ian Blease confirmed they are now also looking for a new prop and back-row is believed to be another priority.
The Yorkshire Evening Post understands Samoan Test second-row Luciano Leilua, who is in the final year of his contract at St George-Illawarra Dragons, is one name who has been mentioned to Rhinos, but Blease insisted recruitment is a work in progress and no decisions have been made. “We are collating lists for next year,” Blease said.
“We are not discounting anything. There’s a whole host of names being thrown at me at the moment and it wouldn’t be right to comment on any of them, but with Mik leaving and potential gaps in the squad going forward, we are looking at every option, both in the UK and abroad.
“We obviously now need a prop, but with Mik, that has just happened this week so we are at the very beginning of it all. But we are always on the look out and in contact with agents and we’ll go through it methodically and hopefully out of that comes a couple of decent players.”
Resolving Croft’s future is also high on Rhinos’ to-do list. The Australian was Man of Steel in 2022 and joined Leeds from Salford Red Devils at the end of the following season on a three-year deal. He and reigning Man of Steel Jake Connor are the only two experienced halves in Rhinos’ current squad.
Leeds’ management have high hopes for George Brown, who has played four times so far this term, but at 19 he is still seen as one for the future and a replacement will be needed if Croft decides to move on. A new deal for the 28-year-old would be a major boost and Blease said: “We are in negotiations with Brodie and his agent so hopefully we can look at him staying, but that is up to him.”