{"id":374285,"date":"2026-01-17T00:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374285\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T00:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T00:54:10","slug":"jarrod-oconnor-close-to-securing-2027-future-as-leeds-rhinos-star-gives-verdict-on-potential-nrl-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/374285\/","title":{"rendered":"Jarrod O’Connor “close” to securing 2027 future as Leeds Rhinos star gives verdict on potential NRL move"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Super\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

Leeds Rhinos hooker Jarrod O\u2019Connor will have a big decision to make regarding his future beyond 2026, with the star out of contract at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The Widnes-born talent is one of eight players currently in the Rhinos first team with less than 12 months on their deal, meaning he is free to speak to other clubs, be that in Super League or the NRL.<\/p>\n

Reports elsewhere have linked O\u2019Connor to a move down under, and should he make the switch across the world would be the fourth Rhinos in two seasons to do so, following in the footsteps of Morgan Gannon, Harry Newman and James McDonnell.<\/p>\n

However, speaking to\u00a0Serious About Rugby League\u00a0earlier this week, O\u2019Connor was happy with his position at Headingley, and hinted that he was in no rush to make any sort of career-changing switch.<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Leeds Rhinos media day, he said: \u201cIt\u2019d always be interesting to listen and see what\u2019s out there.\u00a0There\u2019s obviously different lifestyles over here\u00a0and all different competition,\u00a0which would be interesting,\u00a0but I\u2019m not pushing for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always interesting, like it is with anyone who\u2019s out of contracts,\u00a0any clubs coming in, even if it\u2019s over here,\u00a0it\u2019s someone to listen to,\u00a0but I\u2019m hopefully close to getting something sorted soon.\u201d<\/p>\n

Check out the latest episode of The Serious About Rugby League Show on our YouTube channel here.<\/a><\/p>\n

Leeds Rhinos star discusses hooker competition after Danny Levi\u2019s arrival<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor has been given the number nine jersey at the club, something he has been wanting for a while.<\/a><\/p>\n

After being first choice for the majority of the year in 2025, the 24-year-old\u2019s jersey may suggest he is the favoured nine, but\u00a0 there is no certainty he will be in the starting 13 each week.<\/p>\n

Danny Levi\u2019s arrival from the NRL means that Leeds still have two quality hookers, who both bring different styles of play.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Connor is a more defensive nine, whilst Levi is more attack-minded, and likes to make metres from quicker rucks, something that the referees will look to make more permanent in 2026.<\/p>\n

Commenting on his new competition, the Englishman said: We\u2019ve all seen him a few years ago when he was over at Huddersfield,\u00a0how good he is, and he\u2019s been really good.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s come in and obviously we\u2019re working together\u00a0and trying to push each other as much as we can,\u00a0which is obviously always really good for the squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just going really well,\u00a0and hopefully we can work together\u00a0and I feel like we\u2019ll benefit each other the way we do.\u201d<\/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":"Leeds Rhinos hooker Jarrod O\u2019Connor will have a big decision to make regarding his future beyond 2026, with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-374285","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\/374285","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=374285"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/374285\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=374285"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=374285"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=374285"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}