Leeds Rhinos have been fairly quiet in terms of recruitment this off-season, after only brining in three players to the club. However, one player that has recently been linked with a return to Headingley will not be joining the club.
Reports elsewhere over the weekend said that recently-released Huddersfield Giants man, Ashton Golding, was set for a sensational move back to the club he made his senior debut at.
Golding made his Rhinos debut in 2014, forming part of a heavily rotated side away at London Broncos. He went on to make 63 appearances in Blue and Amber, before leaving to join Huddersfield in 2020.
However, Leeds have rubbished those reports, with the side explaining on their recent podcast that they were never interested, and will not be signing the 29-year-old.
Head of Media and PR, Phil Daly, in conversation with Sporting Director, Ian Blease, said: “You may have seen some reports about us being interested in a former player, over the weekend.
“I know from speaking to Ian that there was no interest in that. There was nothing that come of that.”
Blease added: “Every agent throws every player at us. We’re a big club, and the other clubs are no different. We chat, when you speak to an agent and he’s go through the list. You’ll go through that list methodically with him and various players will get raised.
“There’s time when I think ‘where’s that come from’ and there’s no bones or grounds in it either… but anyway, we’ll move on.”
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Leeds Rhinos Director explains reasons behind signings of overseas trio
Three players have signed though, are Ethan O’Neill, Jeremiah Mata’utia and Danny Levi, and Blease is confident that each will add something different to the playing group.
O’Neill who joins from Leigh, enjoyed a strong first year in Super League with Leigh, before injury prematurely ended his season. Mata’utia will hope to have an impact similar to the one that Cooper Jenkins has this season, with him also being an young, unknown talent hoping to make his way in the top flight. Levi replaces the outgoing Andy Ackers, and will provide competition with Jarrod O’Connor for the hooker role.
Explaining each signing in more detail, Blease said:
“Ethan, surprisingly, came available whilst I was on holiday. We managed to do that deal pretty quickly. We were surprised, but thanks to Leigh, we spoke about it professionally, which is good of Derek [Beaumont] and Jukesy [Neil Jukes], we’ve got a good relationship with them and they allowed him to come to us a year ahead of him coming out of contract.
“Jeremiah was one that Brad got tipped off about. From the Cowboys, we both watched him and studied him, did ground research on him and thought that’s an exciting project for this year.
“Danny, we know what Danny can do and bring to Super League. He’s a class player, he’s excited and Andy Ackers leaving left that gap, that space for us so we decided to go for Danny. We’ve now got Danny and Jarrod fighting for that spot. They’ll both probably get in the team at some stage, but it’s good competition for places.
“I think that all three, and everybody that we’ve renewed really add to that group and I think we’ve got a good squad.”
Blease has also been on a scouting mission in Australia, and linked up with his connections and agents down under to strengthen those partnerships for years to come. He believes that doing that and keeping those connections strong will go a long way in any potential player movements further down the line.
He explained: “We’ve got some good connections in Australia, hence why I went over there for a few weeks to strengthen those relationships. I think it’s important for us as a club for us to keep relationships in Australia.
“[That being said] I’ve said it from day one, we want our young kids coming through our pathways working well, and we want to make sure that we leave space for them in the future, which we are aiming to do as well, but obviously you’ve got to try and make sure you get the best of the players available in the Southern Hemisphere, so that’s why we did that.”
