Leeds Rhinos started the season with former Warrington Wolves star Blake Austin and former Huddersfield Giants star Aidan Sezer but now it is very possible that they finish the year without both of them.
It is certain they will finish the year without Austin after his move to Castleford Tigers and he could stay there beyond 2023 with his teammates telling him on Instagram to extend his stay with a new deal.
Kenny Edwards said: “Sign the contract” suggesting there is one on the table for him.
Recently Austin spoke about his Leeds exit:
“No, not that I’m aware of. Obviously, there was a bit of speculation as to why it happened.
“I received a phone call at 9.30pm on a Wednesday night. Gareth Widdop said, ‘are you interested in coming and giving us a hand?’
“I sort of said I’m not sure if Leeds will let me but the way my situation is I’m open to come in and help and if you think I can help, then yeah within 12-15 hours I was a Tiger.
“I wasn’t looking to leave, obviously I was a bit upset with my situation but I was fully focused on forging ahead for them for the rest of the year and yeah here I am.
“I guess in life all you can do is deal the cards you’ve been dealt. I think that’s a good lesson in all of it for myself.”
Asked about his future, he said:
“No, I haven’t. I was probably more stressed about the contract stuff six to eight weeks ago than what I am now.
“Obviously there’s only four weeks to go. I’ve got a couple of things in the pipeline but nothing set in concrete and I’m just enjoying each week as it comes.
“Obviously being at this place it’s something that’s really important and something I don’t look too far ahead because we’re only seven days away from being back in a real battle again so yeah it’s been refreshing.”
He also spoke about Warrington:
“It’s normally a pretty positive reaction. It’s a place I really enjoy going back to, not for the obvious reason I’ve got. I’ve got a lot of lifelong friends that I made there.
“I’ll never speak negatively about my time at Warrington. I thoroughly enjoyed it and still got a lot of mates and family friends back there.
“I just enjoy the opportunity to go back and see a lot of them. Obviously, going back to the Halliwell Jones and winning is enjoyable, but just seeing friends that I’ve made along the way.”
