Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos men on 5-man shortlist to replace NRL star

The five-man shortlist to replace on of the NRL’s biggest stars reportedly features players from both Wigan Warriors and Leeds Rhinos.

St George Illawarra Dragons have finally cut ties with Ben Hunt after a lengthy saga of whether they would renew his contract or not meaning head coach Shane Flanagan needs a new star.

Per Dean Ritchie, writing for the Daily Telegraph Down Under, Wigan Warriors’ Bevan French and Leeds Rhinos’ Brodie Croft feature on the Dragons’ five-man shortlist.

The duo will be discussed as possible replacements for Hunt when a meeting is held on Wednesday with The Daily Telegraph revealing that the shortlist of names has been specifically compiled by Flanagan.

He will reportedly meet with the club’s assistant coach Dean Young with Flanagan explaining: “We just want to get all our options, our potential sixes and sevens, lined up on the table. We will meet on Wednesday as a club and see what is best for us.”

The three NRL-based players are all under contract for 2025, as are both French and Croft meaning any deal will likely elicit a transfer fee.

Wigan Warriors star on NRL radar

Both Bevan French and Brodie Croft are joined by NRL trio Lachlan Ilias, Adam Doueihi and Daniel Atkinson on the five-man shortlist with ‘no contender ahead of the other’, per The Telegraph.

French has transformed himself from a winger into arguably the best half in Super League during his time with Wigan Warriors, and as such the former Man of Steel is contracted until the end of 2028.

It’s a similar story with Brodie Croft who joined Leeds as a previous Man of Steel winner with the Headingley club signing him to a three-year deal until the end of 2026.

With Ben Hunt having left the Dragons, it means they’re without any star power in the halves but Flanagan has conceded that the club could wait out 2025 and go big on their recruitment in 2026.

He explained: “There are many players we could potentially look at. We also have to work out whether we hold our fire and go for 2026.

“I wouldn’t say anyone is in front of anyone else but I just needed to work out who we could look at or do we go with what we have for 2025. We might scratch some players off straight away. I’m not saying they’re in or out.”

French captured the attention of the NRL with his Man of the Match performances in both the World Club Challenge and Grand Final as Wigan Warriors were victorious in both, whilst Croft was one of the Rhinos’ best players during a tough 2024.