Leeds Rhinos news as coach Rohan Smith responds to Luke Brooks speculation, provides player retention update

Media reports in Australia say Rhinos have been chasing 28-year-old Brooks, who has made more than 200 NRL appearances for Wests Tigers.

But asked about that at his weekly preview press conference on Tuesday, Smith insisted: “He is a good player and if he was here that’d be good, but to my knowledge, I don’t know anything about that.

“I can go to sleep at night knowing I am not telling you guys anything other than I know absolutely nothing about that.”

Nine of Rhinos’ current full-time squad are in the final year of their contract and Smith has already revealed Sam Walters and Liam Tindall are expected to move on after rejecting a new deal.

The future of the others - David Fusitu’a, Blake Austin, Aidan Sezer, Zane Tetevano, James Bentley, James Donaldson and Joe Gibbons - is yet to be confirmed.

Smith said: “All players who are off-contract could potentially stay. Some of those will be staying and will be announced in time.

“Some of them are works in progress that are on-going negotiations. When there is one, we will be getting it out there.”

Smith declined to say if every player in the final year of his deal has been offered terms for 2024. He added: “We are talking to and have spoken to all those players. That’s just a process that will take time in each individual case.”

Super League contracts run until November, but players in their final year are free to talk to rival clubs from May 1 and Smith conceded that can be a distraction.

He said: “I think a lot of players who are seasoned veterans have been in the position multiple times during their career where they’ve been off contract, so perhaps they are familiar with it.

“Sometimes for younger players it is more of a challenge. It seems like in the UK a lot of young players sign quickly after May 1 because they just want to get it done, but that’s an anecdotal feeling.

“It can be a distraction, no doubt, but that’s the system rugby league has created for itself where it does dealings publicly in the middle of a season.

“It is a distraction to fans and to people viewing the games because we’re here talking about 2024 when we’re only half way through 2023. I understand people are interested and it’s newsworthy, but it is a distraction from the present moment.”

Smith revealed last month some recruitment for next year has already been done. But clarifying that today, he stated: “The comment I made about the 2024 roster was more based around we have young kids in our program already that will emerge as Super League players, later this year perhaps, but certainly next year.

“I think a lot of that recruitment and roster building has been done, some of it prior to me being here - kids like Max Simpson and Jack Sinfield.

“There’s also other kids who have come through the academy and Toby Warren [signed from York] and Leon Ruan [ex-Doncaster] and those type of kids will emerge as Super League players in time.”