Super League club set for up to SIX exits

Leeds Rhinos had an under par season in 2023. They have let themselves down after making the Grand Final in 2022.

They appeared a long way off those heights with a major rebuild on the cards as the season drew to a close and they have already lost a number of big players.

The Rhinos have also announced some new acquisitions. The first piece of business was the capture of French international Mickael Goudemand from Catalans Dragons. The powerful forward will look to add a lot of firepower to the Rhinos pack next year. Things went quiet after that, however the recruitment wheel has started to turn again in recent weeks with the confirmed arrival of two NRL backs.

At the end of August, the Rhinos announced Newcastle Knights fullback Lachie Miller had signed a three year deal to bring him to Headingley, and then they announced the pending arrival of Canberra Raiders halfback Matt Frawley on a two year contract.

That was before a quick fire set of three signings in the shape of Paul Momirovski, Brodie Croft and Andy Ackers all of which have been true statement signings for the club. They have also brought in a record number of scholarship players into the professional set-up at the club, and whilst this may not have an immediate impact on the pitch, it could lay the foundations for success in years to come.

However, there is a lot of exits coming as well which could be as many as six in totally. Luke Hooley has already left the club with Derrell Olpherts expected to follow suit. Hooley joined Castleford as part of their rebuild with Olpherts set to join Leigh Leopards as per reports.

Leeds could be set for further exits with Rohan Smith previously saying there could be up to six more departures moving forward. He also spoke about assembling his squad for next year.

“Yeah that’s a disruption but it’s where most of the attention goes from the media is where players are signing and what’s going to happen to your roster next week and next month and next year. It’s an ongoing thing.

“That’s where recruitment and retention has basically become a 12 month of the year activity in the NRL and Super League because of that. Partly because of the speculation and partly because of players and clubs’ interest in securing their personal or the collective future. So there’s no right time sometimes, each situation is different.”