{"id":587354,"date":"2026-05-16T13:37:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/587354\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T13:37:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T13:37:11","slug":"every-player-confirmed-or-in-line-to-leave-leeds-rhinos-at-the-end-of-the-season-amid-brodie-croft-reports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/587354\/","title":{"rendered":"Every player confirmed or in line to leave Leeds Rhinos at the end of the season amid Brodie Croft reports"},"content":{"rendered":"

\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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Leeds Rhinos are in a battle to keep Brodie Croft at the club and if it\u2019s one that they lose, then the Australian half would become the fifth confirmed exit and one of possibly ten players to leave the club at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

In the eyes of pundit Sam Tomkins, such uncertainty could start to affect the club\u2019s on-field performances with the former Man of Steel speaking on Sky Sports after the Rhinos\u2019 latest loss<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cSeven from the 17 tonight could potentially not be there and the head coach could potentially not be there,\u201d Tomkins said after Leeds\u2019 defeat to Wigan Warriors on Friday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe longer that rolls on I think that\u2019s when it has an effect\u2026 The longer that goes on, it does become an issue. It becomes an issue in the camp and I think they\u2019ve got to be really careful how they go through this next little period and make some real clear calls and get them out there so they can have a sole focus on this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

One such potential exit is that of Brodie Croft with\u00a0Serious About Rugby League\u2019s sister site, The Yorkshire Evening Post, breaking the news that Warrington Wolves were interested in Croft<\/a>, leading to Brad Arthur fielding questions about the former Man of Steel on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

At that presser, Arthur said<\/a>: \u201cAll his indications are to me that if he remains in England, Leeds is his club. It\u2019ll come down to Brodie now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite that, the\u00a0Warrington Guardian\u00a0have now reported that the Wolves believe they\u2019re in a strong position to sign the off-contract playmaker for 2027 and if true, Croft wouldn\u2019t be the first big name set to leave Headingley at the end of this year.<\/p>\n

So far, four players have had their exits confirmed by the club, another player departure has been reported, and three others remain off-contract. We\u2019ve looked at that list of players to see who could leave Leeds Rhinos at the end of the 2026 season.<\/p>\n

Challenge Cup reaction, incoming head coach and major signing \u2013 Click here to watch the latest episode of the Serious About Rugby League Show<\/a><\/p>\n

Leeds Rhinos confirmed and possible 2026 departures<\/p>\n

Confirmed exits<\/p>\n

So far, four players have had their exit confirmed with three of those players set to head to Perth Bears in the NRL. Centre Harry Newman became the Bears\u2019 first signing<\/a> and it\u2019s since been announced that James McDonnell and Mikolaj Oledzki will leave for Perth as well.<\/p>\n

All three are massive blows with the two forwards having started most games this year whilst Newman is an England international and has been recalled for this week\u2019s game against Wigan Warriors.<\/p>\n

Former captain Cameron Smith is the other confirmed exit with his experience and versatility in the pack another massive loss, especially when paired with Oledzki\u2019s and McDonnell\u2019s departures.<\/p>\n

Reported exit<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been previously reported by Love Rugby League and it\u2019s understood by Serious About Rugby League that centre Ned McCormack will also leave the club, with the young talent another who is set to sign for Wakefield Trinity.<\/p>\n

Whilst Leeds do have Ash Handley and Jack Bird as their starters for 2027 and a number of young players on their production line, losing both McCormack and Newman may leave them light at the position.<\/p>\n

Brodie Croft of course also fits into this group on the back of the Warrington Guardian\u2019s report, with Croft a major blow if he does indeed leave Headingley.<\/p>\n

Off-contract<\/p>\n

Aside from McCormack and Croft, Leeds have four more players off-contract but one of those players does have an option for 2027 and that\u2019s forward Jeremiah Matautia. Signed ahead of this season, he\u2019s found game time hard to come by with plenty of reserve games played and he\u2019s currently out on loan at Hull FC.<\/p>\n

With Oledzki leaving at the end of the year, Matautia will likely step up into the Cooper Jenkins role with Jenkins replacing Oledzki but the club will have to trigger the option in his contract to do so.<\/p>\n

Ryan Hall is also at the end of his deal but he\u2019ll be 39 in November so it\u2019s unclear what the future holds for him. Fellow veteran Kallum Watkins is only 35 and looks good to go around again, whilst utility player Chris Hankinson is the other man currently off-contract.<\/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 are in a battle to keep Brodie Croft at the club and if it\u2019s one that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-587354","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\/587354","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=587354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}