LEEDS RHINOS chief executive Gary Hetherington has responded to speculation that Brodie Croft could be on his way to Headingley.
The Salford Red Devils star has been heavily linked with a move to Headingley despite signing a seven-year contract earlier in the year.
Though the Rhinos announced a historic new 15-year stadium partnership this morning, most of the focus was aimed at Croft’s future and potential move as Hetherington responded and explained that the club has always been willing to pay transfer fees.
“We are always interested in top quality players and he is a top quality player. We would be interested in players such as him and a few more players,” Hetherington said.
“We don’t normally comment on speculation as well but we are very active in the market at home and abroad and have been for many months now. We are close to putting a squad together that has an outstanding chance of competing next year.
“Brodie Croft is a player we have shown an interest in.
“We have always been prepared to pay that, Iestyn Harris for example, which was a long time ago. He came to the club and made significant difference at the time.
“The squad that will take the field next year will be very different to the one that took last year. We are always looking to invest.”
Hetherington also explained how the new sponsorship deal will improve the club as a whole.
“The sponsorship won’t increase the salary cap because it is what it is, but I think it’s a great statement for the game.
“All sports clubs are going through a tough time with increasing costs and income expectation. This is a great boost for the game generally and certainly for us at Leeds.
“When you are challenged like this, there are two ways you can go: contract for survival which is a sensible move for any business to go down or you can expand into success and that is very much our route.
“We believe we are on the crest of putting an outstanding team together that is Rohan Smith’s team so I think we have a really exciting time to look forward to. This underpins everything we are doing.
“We will be using the sponsorship resources to improve our whole operation.”
That being said, Hetherington is also keen to focus on the young players coming through at Leeds.
“Every Super League squad has 30 players, what we have to be mindful of is we have an outstanding crop of young players and they are now emerging.
“Our mantra has always been to provide opportunities for these players. They are very much part of our first-team squad.
“The injury crisis that we suffered had a silver lining with Jack Sinfield and others that had the chance to play Super League. We are excited about the progression of players in our squad but we do need to add players externally to that.”
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