Leeds Rhinos coach addresses end-of-season exodus as rebuild claims rebutted

Brad Arthur insists Leeds Rhinos are not in the depths of a rebuild despite a fourth end-of-season exit being confirmed.

The departure of Mikolaj Oledzki to the NRL at the end of the season was announced earlier this week, with the prop following Harry Newman and James McDonnell to Perth Bears next year. Meanwhile, Cameron Smith has already agreed to join Wakefield Trinity in 2027.

With Brodie Croft’s future unresolved and Ryan Hall off-contract at the end of the year, it’s not out of the question that Leeds will be losing six first-team regulars at the end of the campaign.

Despite that, Arthur told Love Rugby League that the Rhinos may only recruit one or two players externally, with the rest to be promoted from within.

“It’s not a rebuild,” Arthur said. “It’s just like when you have players retire.

“Like I said, I think players come and go at clubs. If you’ve got a good environment and you’ve got good systems in place, and with our young blokes coming through, you just hope that those guys can step up. It also gives you an opportunity as well to look elsewhere to see if you can strengthen your roster.

“I think it’s just part of an evolving squad and what happens at most clubs. I’d like to think that we’re doing the work with those guys underneath and hopefully they can see a bit of a pathway too for them at times.

“That’s the other thing too. You’ve got blokes in front all the time blocking those opportunities. Then they become impatient and want to leave and go somewhere else for an opportunity. So we want to grow over here and we want the players to get better. It’s hard to keep everyone.”

Asked specifically about external recruitment, Arthur added: “Certainly, with Mikolaj going, we need to add at least one or two. But at the moment, just give a bit more time to this season and these guys and see how they develop before we start buying over the top of a few of them.

“We want to provide that opportunity for those guys to show us that they can fill the void and they’re here for a reason before you start buying over the top. It’s a delicate situation, I get it.

“The timing is everything. But I don’t think at the moment; NRL is only into round three or four, so no one’s really looking to do too much or make too many moves yet. You get 10 rounds in, so players are starting to work out where they sit in the NRL ranking, whether they’re in the team or not, and whether they need to look around.

“We’ve still got a bit of time on our hands to give these guys here an opportunity to try and step up.”

Arthur was subsequently asked specifically about who could fill the roles that are set to be vacated in the squad.

“Harry’s leaving, we’ve brought Jack Bird in, then we’ve still got Max Simpson there, who I can’t forget about. I know he’s had a torrid run of injuries.

“Alfie is there, he’s currently in the rehab group and every time Alfie’s stepped into the team, he’s done a tremendous job for us. We’ve got three really good starting front rowers and you can only start two of them in terms of Tom Holroyd, Cooper Jenkins and Keanan. We’ve got Ben Littlewood sitting there waiting for his opportunity to get a bit of time in the back-row.

“So there are plenty of guys there at the moment sitting there. We just need to make sure we keep the pathway open for them, don’t we? So, yes, we need to probably add, but we’ll provide an opportunity for those guys as well.”