A Championship club have revealed they are in talks about a ‘potential partnership’ with Super League neighbours, Leeds Rhinos.
Hunslet RLFC are keen to join forces with Leeds Rhinos and say such deals need to happen to prevent lower division clubs going out of business.
The south Leeds outfit, who are 13th in the second-tier Betfred Championship, have stressed the arrangement is not a take over; they would retain their identity and squad, but could bring in players from Rhinos on loan and share resources off the field.
Speaking on The Parksiders Podcast, Hunslet chief executive Neil Hampshire revealed: “We’ve been in talks with Leeds since January about a potential partnership and how we can get a better player pathway between the two clubs to support that.
“Super League clubs are in discussions around whether they retain a reserve league for next year or whether they partner with Championship clubs.
“There’ll be different levels of partnership. Some will be like Newcastle [and York Knights], where it’ll almost be a full takeover.
“Ours, if we did go in with the Rhinos, would be on a much more amicable partnership basis.”
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What could a Leeds Rhinos and Hunslet partnership look like?
Rhinos have had dual-registration agreements in the past with lower division clubs including Hunslet, Featherstone Rovers and London Broncos. Those have since been replaced across the game by one-week loans.
Several Super League players have turned out for Hunslet on that basis this year, among them Rhinos’ Riley Lumb, Ned McCormack, Presley Cassell, Zak Lloyd, Tom Nicholson-Watton and Ben Littlewood.
Hampshire stressed: “We would keep our identity, we would keep our players, but we would want some on season-long loans as well as taking one or two on a flexible basis.
“What you’ve got to have in this sport is reality and the reality is the money is in Super League.
“If you’ve got a situation where the best talent is all in there, yet only 17 can play every week, then realistically clubs like the Rhinos have maybe got 11, 12 that could be playing first team regularly, not playing. How are you going to give them an opportunity to play?”
He added: “The logistics around it, what happens to the players we’ve got, what happens to the players in the academies, all that kind of stuff has to be worked through.
“But it needs to happen, in terms of stopping us haemorrhaging clubs by them just having to go because they have got no backing and no support.”
The Hunslet chief reckons there will be benefits for both outfits off the field as well as on it. “We want to work together on lots of different levels,” he stated.
“There’ll be marketing, commercial opportunities, all that kind of stuff. Can we advertise stuff on their website, can they advertise stuff on ours, can we sell joint tickets, season tickets? That kind of thing.”
