{"id":211846,"date":"2025-10-19T22:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-19T22:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/211846\/"},"modified":"2025-10-19T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-19T22:13:10","slug":"where-leeds-rhinos-next-recruitment-focus-should-be-following-double-departure-of-international-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/211846\/","title":{"rendered":"Where Leeds Rhinos next recruitment focus should be following double departure of international stars"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Leeds\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

This week, Leeds Rhinos have confirmed that two players have left the club , and it has left them with large gaps to fill in their squad.<\/p>\n

England international Andy Ackers<\/a> and Irish international James Bentley<\/a> have both departed AMT Headingley, following two and four seasons respectively in Blue and Amber.<\/p>\n

Ackers has been confirmed to join newly-promoted Bradford Bulls on a two-year deal, as he looks to find more regular game time. His 2025 season was hampered by injury, and when he made a return, found himself as second choice to Jarrod O\u2019Connor.<\/p>\n

Bentley, meanwhile, was used as a bench player under Brad Arthur, with the back-rower making just three starts in the league since May. His exit from the club is \u201cdue to a personal matter\u201d, with both player and club agreeing it was best for him to be released from his contract.<\/p>\n

Those departures will not only free up some much-needed salary cap space, but will give Leeds room to manoeuvre in the transfer market, should they want to bring anyone else in to replace them.<\/p>\n

Where Leeds Rhinos need to recruit following key duo\u2019s departure<\/p>\n

As mentioned, O\u2019Connor became Leeds\u2019 first choice nine when Ackers got injured, and whilst he performed well, they need someone more secure in that role if they are to compete going forward. There is no questioning his defensive attributes, but it is his attacking capabilities that limit his talent.<\/p>\n

His ability to exploit a quick ruck and decision-making in crucial moments hamper Leeds\u2019 progress when they have momentum, and bringing someone in that has those attributes, as well as a strong defensive game, will seriously help Arthur\u2019s side going forward.<\/p>\n

The Rhinos have been linked with former Huddersfield Giants and Canberra Raiders hooker, Danny Levi, and a return to Super League could be on the cards for the dual-nation international.<\/p>\n

Bentley\u2019s exit will likely mean that Kallum Watkins<\/a> reverts to second row, a position he excelled in at Salford Red Devils. The Rhinos veteran has been used at loose forward in 2025, but that\u2019s mainly down to Cameron Smith\u2019s injury. Once the Leeds captain makes his recovery, it is expected that he will come straight back into the side, pushing Watkins to the left edge.<\/p>\n

Also in the back row, the departure of Morgan Gannon to the NRL, combined with the 27-year-old\u2019s exit, will now mean that there are no experienced replacements for Leeds in the back row. Toby Warren and Ben Littlewood are both youngsters who play in that position, but are not yet ready to be a regular member of the 17 like they were. Leeds could try and uncover a prospect in the Australian lower grades, having found success with that before in Cooper Jenkins.<\/p>\n

Serious About Rugby League has launched a brand new podcast which can be watched in full on our YouTube channel here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This week, Leeds Rhinos have confirmed that two players have left the club , and it has left…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":211847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-211846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-rugby","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}