Leeds Rhinos are not expected to sign a replacement for Brodie Croft with the club angling towards playing young star George Brown as the half-back partner to Jake Connor in 2027.
Sporting director Ian Blease has hinted as such when speaking on Sky Sports The Bench podcast, revealing that while big recruitment will be done, it may not necessarily be in the halves.
The Rhinos have an exodus of key players with Brodie Croft, who will join Warrington Wolves, just one of five confirmed exits so far with Harry Newman, James McDonnell and Mikolaj Oledzki all heading to join Perth Bears, whilst Cameron Smith will make the move to Wakefield Trinity.
As the sole spine player among them, Croft is arguably the player whose replacement is most important but it seems the Rhinos are happy to go with teenager George Brown.
“We’ve got youth coming through there, George Brown,” Blease said when asked about options in the spine for next year.
“We saw that a long time ago, a talented youngster coming into that position and we’re going to put our faith in George.”
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Leeds Rhinos decide on half-back for 2027
Brad Arthur had made similar comments when speaking post-match on Thursday night, as he said: “We’re happy to back our youth, and that’s why next year with George Brown, we’re backing George Brown.”
Arthur made those comments when asked about Fergus McCormack playing at full-back and like McCormack, Brown has only played a handful of minutes but Blease explained that the club are more than happy to back him for 2027.
He explained: “You’ve seen glimpses of him playing for the first team but we recognise that youth is our future and George will be a part of that plan.
“We don’t want to rush him into that, we’d probably say it’s 12 months too early. I think Brad has come out and said that but we’re going to support that.
“He’s got fantastic talent, his D is good, his attack is great and that’s what we want to see coming through at this club.”
