Leeds Rhinos star set to play on for at least 1 more year as boss promises 'good news' & shrugs off NRL fears

England ace Kallum Watkins is under contract for 2026, but today confirmed he is keen to play on for at least another season after that. The 34-year-old produced a series of outstanding performances after rejoining Leeds from Salford Red Devils last April, going on to earn a Test recall for the Ashes series against Australia at the end of the campaign.

Speaking at Rhinos’ pre-season media day today (Wednesday) coach Brad Arthur said it is “likely” Watkins will go on another year and that was confirmed by the player himself. Watkins told The Yorkshire Evening Post: “Hopefully; it’s on the cards, definitely. I signed for this year and next year is an option.

“We’ll see what happens. For me, I want to carry on playing. I am still enjoying it; it is tough, but my body is holding up pretty well so we’ll see how we go through the year and go from there.”

Rhinos have already agreed new deals with Lachie Miller, Ash Handley, Keenan Palasia, Cooper Jenkins, Jake Connor, Alfie Edgell and Max Simpson who were all due to come out of contract at the end of 2026. Harry Newman and James McDonnell have both signed with new NRL club Perth Bears from next year and, as things stand, Ryan Hall, Brodie Croft, Jarrod O’Connor, Cameron Smith, Ned McCormack and Chris Hankinson are entering the final year of their Leeds deal, along with Watkins.

Discussing retentions for 2027, Arthur said: “I think most of it has been pretty much ticked off. We’ve had some reasonably good news this week and that will be public soon.

“We are comfortable with where we’re at. The guys we’ve lost, you can't be cranky about it. We’re promoting them to the highest level possible and should be proud of that.

“Sam Lisone is the only one we've lost to another Super League club. We’re disappointed about that, but we couldn’t compete with the other offer he had. You can’t begrudge blokes doing what is best for them and their families.”

With the NRL expanding towards a possible 20 clubs by the end of this decade, more players are likely to be recruited from Super League, but Arthur insisted: “I’m not that concerned about it. I just think it’s healthy for the game that we’re promoting players.”

He stressed: “What that does is give the [home-grown] young guys an opportunity probably a bit quicker than they thought. No coach, no staff member, no player is irreplaceable at any club. Players and coaches come and go and another guy comes in to do the job.

“Sometimes you don’t know what you’ve got in your squad until you actually put them out there and give them a go. When I came over, I wanted to make sure this club is in a better position when I leave. I also wanted to help grow the game and make sure the game is in a better position. Guys will surface and you’ll go ‘Jeez, where did they come from’?

“We have got a good crop of kids. We threw George Brown out there in the Boxing Day game; we knew he was going to be a player for us, but he did better than we thought he would. You need a lot of talent in your team, but you need good depth in your squad. Bleasy [sporting director Ian Blease] has done a really good job with the depth of our squad with our young blokes.”