{"id":349584,"date":"2026-01-03T08:05:21","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T08:05:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/349584\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T08:05:21","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T08:05:21","slug":"leeds-rhinos-youngster-issues-bold-statement-of-intent-amid-upcoming-vacancy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/349584\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos youngster issues bold statement of intent amid upcoming vacancy"},"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

A Leeds Rhinos rookie has put his hand up to step into the breach when England star Harry Newman heads to the NRL.<\/p>\n

Newman has signed a two-year contract with new club Perth Bears, which will begin in 2027. That is set to leave a vacancy at centre in Rhinos<\/a>\u2019 squad and Max Simpson is keen to fill it.<\/p>\n

Simpson, 21, broke into Rhinos\u2019 first team in 2022, playing four times before an ankle injury brought his season to an early end that July.<\/p>\n

An anterior cruciate ligament rupture the following pre-season, followed by a series of setbacks, meant he didn\u2019t play again for three years, but he was recalled to the Betfred Super League side last summer after just two halves of reserve team rugby and made three appearances towards the end of the campaign.<\/p>\n

He has been handed the number 18 jersey for next season and started at centre in Rhinos\u2019 Boxing Day win against Wakefield Trinity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHarry was ever-present last year and he has got that off the back of how he was playing, so all credit to him,\u201d Simpson \u2013 who recently penned a new deal until the end of 2029 \u2013 said. \u201cBut obviously I have signed a contract and I want to be a starting centre for Leeds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will take what I can get, but I don\u2019t think I\u2019ll be happy with playing a couple of games next season; I want to get a decent run of games if that opens up and try and fight my way into the team and be very close if not. I want to get as much game time in Super League as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson wore the 26 shirt last term, but insisted he isn\u2019t reading anything into his new squad number \u2013 which teammate Jake Connor occupied when he was named Man of Steel in 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Danny [Levi, Leeds Rhinos\u2019 off-season signing] likes LeBron James, so he wanted 23 and I just got shuffled around a bit,\u201d Simpson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is pleasing, but Brad [Arthur, Rhinos\u2019 coach] is going to pick the best team each week and I don\u2019t think he\u2019s going to care what squad number you\u2019ve got on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simpson had one season left on his previous deal, which he signed in 2023, during his long layoff.<\/p>\n

Of his new long-term arrangement, he added: \u201cI don\u2019t think it makes too much difference to how you play or train, but it is pleasing and confidence-inspiring to get an extended deal after what had happened. I feel like I am in a good place to kick on and try and make a bit more of a mark this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show 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":"A Leeds Rhinos rookie has put his hand up to step into the breach when England star Harry…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349585,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-349584","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\/349584","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=349584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}