Leeds Rhinos have previously turned to Salford Red Devils to sign a star stand-off doing so in 2019 to bring Rob Lui to club who would go on to defeat the Red Devils in the 2020 Challenge Cup Final for the Rhinos.

This time around, Leeds are looking at bringing Brodie Croft to the club according to Leeds Live and The Game Caller. The 2022 Man of Steel would be a statement signing after a lukewarm year.

The club’s ambition of bringing in Croft has been helped by the fact Leeds have now opened up another quota spot with the controversial exit of Nene MacDonald.

It also alleviates any salary cap pressure on the club. The Rhinos are also set to sign Paul Momirovski as a direct replacement for MacDonald.

Macdonald said on his exit: “I really enjoyed my time at the Rhinos and I am grateful for the opportunity and support from all the players and staff.”

Leeds Rhinos Chief Executive Gary Hetherington added: “Nene was very popular with our players and a favourite with our fans and we will miss him.  We wish him well in his next venture and we will now focus on finding a replacement for 2024.”

Nene is set to join Salford Red Devils next year according to reports. This almost makes it a swap deal.

This is despite the fact he recently made a statement that he would be staying at Headingley.

“I came back to Australia for the birth of my child,” he told Post-Courier. “I signed a four-year deal, I’m still there and I don’t know what everyone is saying but I still got a four-year deal.

“I’m still contracted and I haven’t done anything wrong…we (Rhinos) can’t make the finals so I’m staying back and getting the chance to play and it’s just exciting to be back. It’s been too long like 2019 COVID and home and being away in England…miss being here and it’s good to be back home.”

Smith did reveal text messages with the player whoever.

He said: “I had a few text messages exchanged a couple of weeks ago now. That was the last time I’ve had communication.

“It’s been left to Gary and Nene’s management to sort out where that goes.

“I’m not going to speculate about any scenarios there. There hasn’t been an update in the last four or five days since I was last asked that question.

“So when there is, we’ll be looking forward to a resolution to it for Nene and his young family to get the best solution and also for the club, whatever that works out to be.

“That’s just an ongoing process at the moment. He’s unavailable this week.”