{"id":686622,"date":"2026-01-10T11:25:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T11:25:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686622\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T11:25:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T11:25:13","slug":"leeds-rhinos-explain-disappointing-departure-as-second-star-set-for-nrl-move","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686622\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos explain ‘disappointing’ departure as second star set for NRL move"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leeds Rhinos will lose another star to the NRL at the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

09:01, 10 Jan 2026Updated 09:08, 10 Jan 2026<\/p>\n

\"James<\/p>\n

James McDonnell will leave Leeds Rhinos at the end of the 2026 Super League season.(Image: )<\/p>\n

James McDonnell will leave Leeds Rhinos at the end of the 2026 season to pursue a new NRL opportunity, the Super League club has confirmed.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old enters the final year of his contract, having joined from Wigan Warriors ahead of the 2023 campaign.<\/p>\n

He was an ever-present under head coach Brad Arthur in 2025, named in the Super League Dream Team as Leeds secured a home play-off tie for the first time in eight years.<\/p>\n

McDonnell becomes the second player confirmed to be leaving Headingley Stadium at the end of 2026 for the NRL, with England centre Harry Newman set to join Perth Bears<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the announcement, Leeds’ sporting director Ian Blease said: \u201cWhen we agreed a contract extension with James back in April last year, we knew James’ ambitions as a player, just like when he left his hometown club at Wigan to gain regular rugby at Leigh and then came across to Leeds to make a name for himself at the Rhinos. He has tremendous self belief and drive, which as a club, we have benefitted from in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he will give his all this season before moving on. We have both agreed to make a decision as early as possible in the year so we can plan for 2027 and I am grateful that James has been up front at the earliest opportunity.<\/p>\n

“He had an outstanding season in 2025 and I am expecting even better in 2026.”<\/p>\n

Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur added: \u201cIt is disappointing to lose James for 2027 but there is a long time to go between now and then.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames is a great example, particularly for our younger players, of where hard work and dedication can take you.<\/p>\n

“For those in the squad, they know there is a spot up for grabs next year and that should drive them on and likewise on Ian\u2019s recent visit to Australia, there was a lot of interest from players about what we are building here in the Rhinos so I have ever confidence we can continue to build a strong squad for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leeds also lost Morgan Gannon at the end of the 2025 season, with the back-rower linking up with New Zealand Warriors on a three-year deal after turning down a “substantial” offer to stay in England<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Rhinos meanwhile have confirmed that Keenan Palasia, 28, has agreed a new three-year contract extension with the club, securing his future until at least the end of the 2029 Super League season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos will lose another star to the NRL at the end of 2026. 09:01, 10 Jan 2026Updated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686623,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-686622","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-leeds","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-leeds","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115870559487429569","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=686622"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686622\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}