Where Are They Now: The last Leeds Rhinos team to host a play-off tie in 2017

Leeds Rhinos will host a Super League play-off tie for the first time in eight years on Saturday evening when they took on St Helens in a mouthwatering clash.

AMT Headingley will likely be rocking for the game between two of Super League’s most successful teams, as both bid to keep their seasons alive for at least another week.

Things have changed a lot in the eight years between games, including the stadium itself. But there are a couple of Rhinos players who were there that night that will be on the field this weekend, too.

Here’s a trip down memory lane to look at the 17 who defeated Hull FC eight years ago – and what happened to them next.

Jack Walker

Walker burst onto the scene with Leeds in the 2017 season and eventually became their first-choice fullback at the age of just 18. He was one of the youngest ever players to play in a Super League Grand Final that season when he featured against Castleford.

Walker has been plying his trade with Salford Red Devils in the latter stages of this season, having begun 2025 with Sheffield Eagles. He is on the hunt for a club for 2026.

Tom Briscoe

One of several players from this side still playing in Super league to this day, Briscoe has proven to be an integral figure for Hull FC this season under John Cartwright. He recently signed a new deal to remain with the Black and Whites in 2026.

Kallum Watkins

2017 would prove to be the last of Watkins’ multiple Super League Grand Final triumphs with Leeds. By 2019, he departed for the NRL to sign for Gold Coast Titans before returning to England with Salford Red Devils.

However, he came back. to AMT Headingley this summer in a shock mid-season move that has proven to be one of the most successful deals the Rhinos have executed in recent times. He is back on top of his game.

Liam Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe would spend a decade with his hometown club, playing in numerous major finals including the 2017 Grand Final, before leaving the Rhinos at the end of the 2022 season.

He had a stint with Hull FC before returning to West Yorkshire to sign with Huddersfield Giants, where he remains to this day.

Ryan Hall

The second player from this team eight years ago to still be with the Rhinos – though like Watkins, he has left at one stage before coming back.

Hall had a short spell in the NRL with Sydney Roosters before enjoying great success with Hull KR, becoming a pivotal figure in their rise ahead of a return to Headingley at the start of this season.

Joel Moon

Another pivotal figure in their title-winning teams of 2015 and 2017, Moon’s time with Leeds lasted until the end of the 2019 season, when he returned to Australia. However, he retired in 2020.

Danny McGuire

One of the greatest legends in Super League – and Leeds Rhinos – history, McGuire’s career with his hometown club came to an end in the 2017 Grand Final, with this particular fixture his penultimate game for the club, and last at Headingley.

He would spend two seasons playing at Hull KR before beginning a coaching career, first with the Robins before a move to Castleford Tigers. He supported Craig Lingard as assistant coach in 2024 before stepping up to head coach in 2025. However, he was sacked midway through this year.

Mitch Garbutt

The prop would remain with Leeds until the end of the 2018 season and had a varied latter stage to his career across multiple clubs.

A spell with Hull KR was followed by two years in France with Toulouse Olympique. He would remain in the country in 2023 and 2024, playing for Super XIII side Saint-Gaudens Bears before retiring at the end of last year.

Matt Parcell

Parcell proved to be a magnificent servant for Leeds across his time with the club, helping them win the Grand Final during his first season in England in 2017.

But by 2019, he had left the club on loan to join Hull KR – where he remained right the way through to his retirement at the end of last year. Parcell’s final game as a professional came in the defeat to Wigan Warriors in the Grand Final at Old Trafford, before he returned to Australia.

Brad Singleton

Singleton is still playing to this day with Castleford Tigers, with the Cumbrian enjoying a fine career across clubs including the Rhinos, Wigan Warriors and Salford Red Devils.

Stevie Ward

Sadly, Ward was forced into premature retirement in 2021 after long-standing consequences from a concussion that he picked up at the beginning of the 2020 campaign.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan

Jones-Buchanan would spend 20 years with the Rhinos, eventually calling time on a legendary career with his hometown club at the end of the 2019 season.

He began a coaching career with Leeds and even briefly stepped up as the club’s interim coach in 2022 prior to Rohan Smith’s arrival. A respected pundit with Sky, Jones-Buchanan is now back at AMT Headingley as the club’s CEO, too.

Adam Cuthbertson

One of the finest overseas players Leeds have signed in the modern era, Cuthbertson provided immense service to the Rhinos across six seasons from 2015 to 2020.

Cuthbertson made the move to York for the 2021 season before a season with Featherstone, and he then returned home to Australia to finish his career with Mackay Cutters. Cuthbertson is now building a coaching career back Down Under.

Rob Burrow

One of the greatest Leeds Rhinos players of all-time, like McGuire, this match was the penultimate game of Burrow’s legendary career.

He retired after the Grand Final triumph of 2017 before embarking on a coaching career that was cruelly cut short when he was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in late-2019. Burrow became an iconic and inspirational figure across the world for his fundraising efforts alongside Kevin Sinfield before passing away last year.

Carl Ablett

Ablett spent his entire career with Leeds before retiring at the end of the 2019 season. He now works as a plumber and boiler engineer!

Brett Ferres

Ferres is still playing in the professional game – and will continue to do so in 2026 at the age of 40! He captained Goole Vikings during their first year in League 1 in 2025, and he has re-signed to do the same again next year.

Anthony Mullally

After leaving Leeds in 2019, Mullally would go on to have spells with the likes of Toronto Wolfpack and Carcassonne, before finishing his career with Cornwall in 2022. He is now a specialist wellbeing coach away from the game.