Ex-Leeds Rhinos man describes Castleford Tigers move as “biggest kept secret” as he hints that move was secured a while back

Last night Castleford Tigers confirmed the signing of Jack Broadbent from Leeds Rhinos.

The versatile back who has played fullback, wing, centre and in the halves during his career was highly rated at Leeds especially during the 2021 season scoring four tries in one game against Leigh Centurions as he proved to be an important part of the Rhinos squad.

Then something seemingly changed in 2022. He seemed a shoe in to play in the Round Two game at Wigan following David Fusitu’a’s injury, but instead the wing spot was given to Liam Tindall who played only one game in 2021.

That set the tone for Broadbent as he went on to play very few minutes for the Rhinos in 2022 prior to joining Featherstone Rovers on loan where his try scoring ability was there for all to see.

Now he has joined Lee Radford’s Tigers for 2023 as part of Lee Radford’s ambition to bring more young British players to the club.

It seems this deal was arranged a long time ago however, with Broadbent taking to Twitter to say:  “The biggest kept secret is out. Let’s go.”

This came after he said he wasn’t pleased with the ways things ended at Headingley.

“It probably didn’t go the way I wanted it to at Leeds last year,” Broadbent admitted in his first interview since joining Super League rivals Castleford.

“I ended up on loan with Featherstone. I feel like I had a strong end to the season under Brian McDermott and I felt like I learned a lot during that time.

“This is my first permanent move and I’m looking to make that step up and become a week-in, week-out Super League player.”