{"id":686893,"date":"2026-01-10T14:27:25","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686893\/"},"modified":"2026-01-10T14:27:25","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:27:25","slug":"james-mcdonnell-leeds-rhinos-forward-to-leave-super-league-club-for-nrl-at-end-of-2026-season-joining-harry-newman-in-southern-hemisphere-rugby-league-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/686893\/","title":{"rendered":"James McDonnell: Leeds Rhinos forward to leave Super League club for NRL at end of 2026 season, joining Harry Newman in southern hemisphere | Rugby League News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leeds Rhinos forward James McDonnell will leave the club at the end of the 2026 Super League season and move to the NRL, joining current team-mate Harry Newman in the southern hemisphere.<\/p>\n

Leeds have not announced which team McDonnell will move to when his contract expires at the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Newman has already penned a two-year deal with Perth Bears, which will come into effect when his Rhinos deal finishes in the autumn.<\/p>\n

\"Leeds<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Leeds’ Harry Newman’s move to Perth Bears had already been confirmed<\/p>\n

McDonnell played every game for Leeds last year and secured a spot in the Super League Dream team, while he was also part of the England training squad ahead of the Ashes.<\/p>\n

The back-rower joined Leeds from Wigan Warriors ahead of the 2023 season and has also had spells on loan at York Knights and Leigh Leopards earlier in his career.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the McDonnell news was announced, Rhinos revealed that forward Keenan Palasia has penned a three-year contract extension until the end of 2029.<\/p>\n

\"Keenan<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Keenan Palasia has signed a new three-year deal with Leeds<\/p>\n

Palasia arrived in Yorkshire from NRL outfit Gold Coast Titans ahead of 2025.<\/p>\n

Leeds ‘know McDonnell will give his’ all before leaving<\/p>\n

Leeds sporting director Ian Blease said of McDonnell’s impending departure: “When we agreed a contract extension with James back in April last year, we knew his ambitions as a player.<\/p>\n

“He has tremendous self-belief and drive, which as a club, we have benefitted from in recent years. I know he will give his all this season before moving on.<\/p>\n

“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

\"James<\/p>\n

Image:
\n McDonnell joined Leeds from Wigan Warriors ahead of the 2023 campaign<\/p>\n

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

“James 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.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos forward James McDonnell will leave the club at the end of the 2026 Super League season…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":686894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-686893","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\/115871275328526170","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686893","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=686893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/686893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/686894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=686893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=686893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=686893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}