Ian Blease has lifted the lid on how Leeds Rhinos are aiming to tie down their out-of-contract stars as soon as possible following a change in rugby league’s transfer regulations.
Rule C1:3:2 of the RFL’s Tier 1-3 Operational Rules now allows teams to approach players entering the final year of their contract from the start of the salary cap year in December as opposed to the mid-season May date.
The eight-time Betfred Super League champions secured England prop Mikolaj Oledzki on a three-year extension in January and Leeds sporting director Blease underlined how the pressure is on as they negotiate other contracts while rivals are free to talk to players.
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“They’ve brought in a new rule this year where players who are out of contract the following year, you can talk to other clubs from December 1 – it used to be May,” Blease told the Leeds Rhinos Podcast.
“We signed Mik so we’ve got a few more to work on and that takes the vast majority of a person’s time to do that, especially when you’re negotiating in a way that we’ve got to bring value for money to the club in terms of players.
“The agents want more every year, the players want more every year, and that’s a difficult balance to agree upon and there are various facets to that – and statistics as well, we look at all of that in the background.
“Then you’ve got the overseas players you must consider in everything, even though we’ve only got seven quota spots, so there is a lot to do on that.”
James Bentley, Morgan Gannon, Tom Holroyd, James McDonnell, and overseas pair Matt Frawley and Sam Lisone are the six remaining Rhinos players whose contracts are due to expire at the end of this season.
Now in his first full season as Leeds’ sporting director after joining in June last year, former Salford Red Devils player and executive Blease is already at an advanced stage as far as recruitment for 2026 goes, including back-up plans.
But the 59-year-old revealed the Rhinos, who face his old club away in Round 2 of the Super League season on Saturday, do have the budget available to make in-season changes if needed as well.
They have already signed Australian three-quarter Ethan Clark-Wood on a one-year deal after high-profile off-season recruit Maika Sivo was ruled out for the campaign due to injury.
“Thankfully, we’ve got the money to do a bit more this year if we want to,” Blease said.
“That’s something we’ve got on our eyeline and we’ll see what happens over the next few weeks or months.
“We won’t rush into anything, like we never do.
“Looking towards next year, things move pretty quickly and if something doesn’t quite work out with somebody you’re negotiating with, we need to move, so we’ve got things lined up for that as well.”
