Leigh Leopards confirm 10 departures, including NRL-bound duo and Hull FC-bound trio

Ben Olawumi
Tom Amone, Ricky Leutele, Kai O'Donnell

From left to right: Tom Amone, Ricky Leutele and Kai O'Donnell will all depart Leigh Leopards at the end of the 2024 season

Leigh Leopards have confirmed that 10 players will depart the club at the end of the 2024 season, including NRL-bound duo Tom Amone and Kai O’Donnell.

Prop Amone – who has made over 80 appearances since joining Leigh in 2022 – has agreed a two-year deal with Canterbury Bulldogs starting in 2025.

Back-rower O’Donnell also joined the then-Centurions in 2022, and has surpassed 75 appearances in their colours during his time in the North West. He will link up with the North Queensland Cowboys next season having penned a two-year deal.

Elsewhere, it had already been confirmed that captain John Asiata along with Zak Hardaker and Oliver Holmes would be joining fellow Super League outfit Hull FC in 2025, with Leigh rubber-stamping that news in Thursday’s press release.

All five of those players starred last August at Wembley for Adrian Lam’s side as they lifted the Challenge Cup after a dramatic Golden Point triumph against Hull KR.

LRL RECOMMENDS: Super League ins and outs for 2025 – Every confirmed signing and departure

Leigh Leopards confirm 10 departures, including NRL-bound duo and Hull FC-bound trio

The Leopards have also confirmed the departures of five other players.

Samoa international centre Ricky Leutele will leave the Leythers at the end of 2024 having made 47 appearances for the club to date over the last two seasons.

He has been linked with a return to Huddersfield Giants in 2025, though nothing has been confirmed on that front yet.

Jacob Jones, Jacob Gannon, Tom Nisbet, and Lewis Baxter complete the group of 10 announced as leaving the club.

That quintet have all been on the fringes of Lam’s squad over the last two seasons as a Super League club, featuring sporadically and also enjoying loan spells away from the club.

Leigh now have six players left off-contract, though one of those is Ben Nakubuwai who has spent the second half of the campaign out on loan at Featherstone Rovers. He isn’t expected to be retained.

The other five off-contract Leopards whose futures remain unresolved as things stand are Jack Hughes, Keanan Brand, Nathan Wilde, Jack Darbyshire and Kavan Rothwell.

LRL RECOMMENDS: Every Super League player out of contract at the end of 2024