{"id":364464,"date":"2026-01-11T13:17:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T13:17:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/364464\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T13:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T13:17:19","slug":"leeds-rhinos-major-contract-boost-as-star-forward-pens-long-term-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/364464\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos&#8217; major contract boost as star forward pens long-term deal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img width=\"1200\" height=\"800\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AM11873.jpg\" class=\"attachment- size- wp-post-image\" alt=\"Leeds Rhinos\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/>\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<p dir=\"ltr\">Leeds Rhinos are celebrating a major contract boost a month out from the new season.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Samoan international forward Keenan Palasia is the latest player to commit his future to Rhinos after extending his stay at the club until the end of 2029.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The new deal adds three years to his previous contract which was due to expire this autumn.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The arrangement was announced by Rhinos this morning (Saturday), an hour after they revealed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.seriousaboutrl.com\/leeds-rhinos-forward-set-to-follow-harry-newman-to-nrl-in-2027-with-exit-confirmed-111663\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">second-rower James McDonnell will depart the club following the 2026 season.<\/a><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Brisbane-born Palasia joined Rhinos a year ago from NRL club Gold Coast Titans and made 28 appearances last term, all but two in the starting line-up.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Able to play at prop or loose-forward, he has been awarded the number 13 jersey for the upcoming campaign.<\/p>\n<p>Keenan Palasia pens new Leeds Rhinos deal<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He said; \u201cI\u2019m really pleased to get it all sorted before the season starts. That was the main thing for me, to get it done so I can fully focus on my footy, put my best foot forward and hopefully help this club win some silverware.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe boys have made it really easy to transition over here, not just into the team, but also life away from rugby league.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cIt\u2019s a credit to the club; we don\u2019t just sign good players, we sign good people. That\u2019s the kind of club I want to be a part of for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Palasia, 28, insisted: \u201cComing off the back of a tough final season in the NRL, coming over here and finding my form again has been massive for me. I can thank the coaching staff and the team around me for that.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe success of the team has rubbed off on me and now it\u2019s about carrying that through over the next few years.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cEvery professional athlete wants to win competitions. We want to challenge for silverware, starting with the Challenge Cup, then pushing for the league and the Super League.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Rhinos\u2019 sporting director Ian Blease is \u201cdelighted\u201d with Palasia\u2019s new deal. He said: \u201cHe was a Grand Finalist with Brisbane in the NRL just a few years ago and I think it speaks volumes for how well he has settled in here at the Rhinos that he sees his future with us and in the Super League competition.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Leeds coach Brad Arthur added: \u201cKeenan is very much appreciated by his team mates for the qualities he brings to our group.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cHe has entered a new stage of his career in the last two years and really matured into a dependable player who puts his team first.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThe good news for the Rhinos is there is even more he can still [achieve] and I know he is hungry to do that in the coming years with this group of players.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on <a class=\"in-cell-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=qYpC2b94Sbw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">our YouTube channel here.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768085712_213_srl-logo.png\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos are celebrating a major contract boost a month out from the new season. Samoan international forward&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-364464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364464","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=364464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}