Brad Arthur’s 30-word response on Brodie Croft as announcement date set

Leeds Rhinos head coach Brad Arthur says an announcement on Brodie Croft’s future will be made next week as a move to Warrington Wolves nears.

The halfback is understood to have signed a marquee, three-year contract with the Wolves heading into 2027, in a move that will see the Rhinos lose another of their senior players at the end of the year.

Croft will be the latest in a growing line of players at Headingley who are departing the club at the end of this season. Cameron Smith has agreed to sign for Wakefield Trinity while three more key men – Harry Newman, Mikolaj Oledzki and James McDonnell – are going to Perth Bears in the NRL.

Arthur was reluctant to talk about Croft’s future pre-match at Wigan Warriors on Friday evening, telling Sky Sports, they had agreed to ‘shelve’ any discussions.

But with the game out of the way and Leeds beaten 24-4, Arthur did break his silence on the matter and admitted there is now an announcement set for next week on Croft’s future – as the Rhinos prepare to confirm they will be losing another big name.

Arthur told the press: “We’ll have to wait. We said this week we wanted to focus on the game, and we pushed it to next week. They’ll be an announcement with what’s happening there.”

Arthur frustrated with captain’s challenge

The Leeds coach stressed that the news surrounding Croft was not a factor in Leeds’ underwhelming display on Friday night – but admitted there were frustrations with his side’s inability to do the basics.

Beyond that, he also became the latest coach to bemoan the captain’s challenge, with Leeds feeling aggrieved that a try was chalked off when Harry Newman went close, though replays did appear to show the ball went backwards before being grounded by Ryan Hall.

“I just think when we go to the captain’s challenges, they’re going to be long stoppages. We’ve got to get them right.

“Look, we’ve got plenty to work on ourselves. I’ve got a couple of questions that I’ll be asking. On a 20-metre restart, I’m sure you’ve got to kick the ball on the line, not two or three metres over the line. So when we go to those decisions and we have a look at them, we just need to get them right. But, yeah, that’s on us in terms of the result, no-one else.”