{"id":959638,"date":"2026-05-14T16:22:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/959638\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T16:22:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:22:14","slug":"leeds-rhinos-transfer-plan-after-brodie-croft-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/959638\/","title":{"rendered":"Leeds Rhinos’ transfer plan after Brodie Croft exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brodie Croft will be a Warrington Wolves player next season after agreeing to sign a three-year contract with the club.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Leeds Rhinos halfback will become the Wire\u2019s next marquee player after coming to terms on a deal that will see him replace George Williams at the Halliwell Jones next season.<\/p>\n

Warrington had made Croft their number one halfback target heading into 2027, with captain Williams returning to the NRL to play for the Dolphins.<\/p>\n

And they have now landed Croft on a long-term contract after his hopes of returning to the NRL with St George Illawarra Dragons were ended after they signed New Zealand Warriors halfback Luke Metcalf.<\/p>\n

It means they have landed a former Man of Steel, with Croft crowned Super League\u2019s best player in 2022 while playing for Salford Red Devils. He joined Leeds Rhinos in 2024 for a six-figure fee.<\/p>\n

28-year-old Croft player 65 games in the NRL for Melbourne Storm and Brisbane Broncos before making the move to Super League, where he has scored 40 tries in 109 appearances for Salford and Leeds. He has had an outstanding start to the current campaign, registering 13 tries in 10 outings.<\/p>\n

What next for Leeds Rhinos?<\/p>\n

For the Rhinos, Croft becomes the sixth player who will depart the club at the end of the season. Mikolaj Oledzki, Harry Newman and James McDonnell are all joining new NRL club Perth Bears, while Cameron Smith is heading to Super League rivals Wakefield Trinity, as is young outside back Ned McCormack. Ryan Hall\u2019s future remains unclear, with the veteran winger yet to decide whether he will play on next season.<\/p>\n

Leeds had tabled a deal to re-sign Croft but his decision to leave the club is not one they are panicking over. In reality, the Rhinos have been bracing for his exit for months, with Perth Bears previously linked with a move for him. The club has always been aware of his desire to return to Australia so with that, they have been working on potential targets for some time.<\/p>\n

They feel there are some exciting options out there, too. Leeds are now accelerating on those and are confident that they will secure a deal that will prove to be a more than adequate replacement for the player departing.<\/p>\n

Beyond that, they are also invested in young halfback George Brown and are confident of securing him on a new contract soon.<\/p>\n

The reality for Leeds now is that they have significant flexibility on the salary cap. Some of that will be required to integrate younger players who currently do not cost them on the cap, but there is space for at least two major signings, with a halfback and prop set to be their priorities.<\/p>\n

With the likes of Chris Hankinson and Jeremiah Matautia also off contract, Leeds have the ability to create further space if they feel it necessary.<\/p>\n

So while there is an acknowledgment that there is plenty of work to do ahead of 2027, they are also confident about what they will be able to do in the months leading into next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Brodie Croft will be a Warrington Wolves player next season after agreeing to sign a three-year contract with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":959639,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8814],"tags":[748,393,4884,1860,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-959638","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\/116573853884931459","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959638","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=959638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}