Leeds Rhinos boss teases Kallum Watkins’ contract news ahead of milestone game

Leeds Rhinos are confident milestone man Kallum Watkins will play on for them next year.

The veteran will make his 400th career appearance when Rhinos play host to Warrington Wolves in Betfred Super League on Saturday.

The 34-year-old rejoined Leeds in April from Salford Red Devils and the game against Warrington will be his 266th for the Rhinos.

He also played 96 times with Salford, eight for Gold Coast Titans and made 30 England appearances.

He is under contract until the end of this season, but Rhinos’ sporting director Ian Blease – who worked with Watkins at Salford – wants him to play on for at least one more year before moving to a role on the backroom staff.

Speaking at his weekly press conference to preview Saturday’s game, Rhinos coach Brad Arthur insisted: “We want Kallum to stay, he wants to stay – I am sure that will get sorted sooner rather than later.”

Leeds Rhinos coach hails Watkins ahead of milestone game

A centre during his first spell with Leeds from 2008-2019, Watkins has played five times since returning to the club, mainly operating in the pack, but also filling in as a back when needed because of injuries.

Arthur described having him in the squad  as a “luxury”. He said: “He’s just a footballer, you can put him anywhere and he goes and gets his job done.

“The most pleasing thing is his attitude, whatever I ask him to do, I do because it’s best for the team.

“That’s where I am really proud of the group at the moment. Not everyone is going to be happy with every decision I make, but I am making decisions on what’s best for the team.

“He has moved to the middle, to an edge, played in the halves, gone into the centres – he has done whatever’s needed to try and help the team win.”

Brad Arthur wary of Warrington Wolves’ Sneyd threat

It could also be a memorable afternoon for Watkins’ former Salford teammate Marc Sneyd, who is approaching two Super League milestones.

A week after winning his third Lance Todd Trophy – as man of the match in Warrington’s Challenge Cup final loss to Hull KR – the half-back needs two goals to become Super League’s fourth-most prolific kicker and eight points to go into sixth place on the competition’s all-time list of scorers.

“He has got a tremendous kicking game,” Arthur said of Warrington’s scrum-half. “We’ve done some work around it, but we’ve got to be careful not to over-focus on it and forget about the other threats they have across the field.

“He’s a good player and he is going to nail something at some stage, so it’s about how we react and handle that and move on and do our next job. That’s our focus and priority.”

Arthur felt Warrington were “ very good and unlucky” in their Wembley defeat. He warned: “They didn’t get the result, but they’ll be confident on the back of their last performance. We are expecting the best version of them.”

Leeds Rhinos have named their 21 man squad to face Warrington this Saturday at AMT Headingley, kick off 5.30pm.
This Saturday’s game is a charity takeover for our partners at @LeedsBS who have donated their shirt sponsorship to @barnardos for the game

— Leeds Rhinos (@leedsrhinos) June 12, 2025