Leeds Rhinos: Hetherington laughs off transfer speculation surrounding Rhinos

The 2015 treble-winners have been strongly linked with Salford Red Devils stand-off Robert Lui and half-back/hooker Kyle Wood, who plays for Huddersfield Giants.

Rhinos slumped to ninth in Super League this year, missing out on the play-offs for the first time and being forced into a battle for survival in the Qualifiers.

Leeds were the top-flight’s lowest scorers in the opening 23 rounds and struggled for consistency at half-back, using nine different combinations in their 32 competitive matches.

That has led to speculation Rhinos will bring in a play-maker to support Danny McGuire, Jordan Lilley and Rob Burrow next year. Wood – who has also played for Wakefield Trinity, Castleford Tigers and Batley Bulldogs – and Lui have been identified in some reports as possible targets, but that speculation was laughed off by Hetherington.

“It comes as no surprise we get linked with a whole host of players,” said the Leeds chief.

“It is a great source of amusement for us at the club to see us linked with players when there is no foundation at all.

“It is very rare any of this speculation has any foundation at all.”