An eye-catching 13 of off-contract Super League stars ahead of 2025 campaign

The 2024 Super League campaign is now over, and plenty of players are jetting off on their holidays for a much-needed break before pre-season begins.

But for some, as things stand, they don’t have a club to return to. Having departed the club they represented this year, their future is yet to be decided – or at least announced.

Here, we’ve put together a ‘free agent XIII’ of Super League stars still on the open market…

For what it’s worth, if a player’s next destination is commonly known and just awaiting a rubber stamp, we’ve excluded them.

That includes Lee Kershaw, as an example, who is joining Hull KR.

Elsewhere, the likes of Jon Bennison and Jack Hughes are staying at St Helens and Leigh Leopards respectively, their clubs just haven’t formally announced their new deals yet.

Without further ado, here is our free agent XIII…

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1. Ryan Hampshire

Utility back Hampshire returned to Wigan Warriors ahead of the 2023 campaign, and departed at the end of the season just gone having formed part of the squad which has won all six of the last major honours on offer, including two Super League titles.

Due to a combination of injuries and being a ‘deputy’ on the pecking order, he left having featured just 12 times over the last two seasons, following on from a 2022 campaign which saw him make only five appearances for Castleford Tigers, again due to injury. The utility back will turn 30 in December.

2. David Fusitu’a

Ex-New Zealand and Tonga international Fusitu’a is another who has had an injury-hit last few years, managing only 43 appearances for Leeds Rhinos across the three seasons he spent at Headingley.

The winger, who turned 30 earlier this week, had amassed over a century of NRL appearances for the New Zealand Warriors prior to joining Leeds and had ended the 2018 campaign as the top try-scorer Down Under. The likelihood is he will now return to Australia.

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3. Tom Opacic

One man who has openly stated his preference to return Down Under is Opacic, who departs Super League following two years with Hull KR which saw him amass 48 appearances.

Having turned 30 in September, the centre fell out of favour at Craven Park in the second half of the 2024 season, and didn’t make the matchday squad for last weekend’s Grand Final defeat to Wigan at Old Trafford. He has just over 80 NRL appearances to his name having donned the shirts of Brisbane Broncos, North Queensland Cowboys and Parramatta Eels.

4. Ricky Leutele

Centre Leutele was one of the more surprising ‘releases’ across the whole of Super League having been a standout star for Leigh across the last couple of years. Leopards boss Adrian Lam himself detailed how gutted he was to be losing the 34-year-old.

Having suffered a season-ending injury midway through the 2023 campaign, Leutele recovered to feature in 30 of Leigh’s 310 games across all competitions in 2024. The seven-time Samoa international has been linked with a return to Huddersfield Giants, though nothing is set in stone on that front.

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5. Matt Ikuvalu

There isn’t exactly a wealth of wingers on the open market in terms of those that played in Super League in the season just gone, so we’re pushing Australian ace Ikuvalu – primarily a centre – out wide.

The 30-year-old spent circa 18 months with Catalans Dragons having arrived from Cronulla Sharks midway through the 2023 campaign. Reaching the Grand Final just a few months later, he made a total of 36 appearances for the Dragons having seen his 2024 campaign cut short through a pectoral injury.

6. Jacob Miller

Miller had been contracted at Castleford until the end of the 2025 season, but having struggled for any sort of form over the two years he’s spent at The Jungle, the Tigers have allowed him to cut his time with the club short. He scored six tries in 52 appearances for the Fords.

Now 32, the Sydney-born playmaker has been in the British game since 2013 – spending eight years with Wakefield Trinity prior to joining Cas having also donned a shirt for both Hull FC and Doncaster, the latter as a loanee.

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7. Josh Drinkwater

Fellow Australian playmaker Drinkwater has been in the British game since midway through the 2016 campaign, when Leigh – then Centurions – recruited him to aid a promotion push.

Having previously featured for London Broncos in 2014, the half-back went on to play for both Catalans and Hull KR. The last two seasons have been spent at Warrington, with Drinkwater playing 50 games for the Wolves – featuring in their Challenge Cup final defeat to Wigan earlier this year.

8. Jarrod Wallace

Queensland native Wallace’s time with Catalans was short, joining in July and featuring seven times before the end of the season as the Dragons failed to reach the play-offs.

Scoring two tries in the process, 33-year-old Wallace – who featured twice in the NRL for the Dolphins this year before making the move to Super League – only signed a deal until the end of 2024. He had been expected to extend his stay in Perpignan, but that didn’t prove to be the case, and he now looks likely to return Down Under.

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9. Alrix Da Costa

Nine-time France international Da Costa, 27, has only ever played for Catalans at senior level but has seen his Dragons contract expire and is a man in demand, according to reports.

The hooker, born in Foix, has 124 first-team appearances for Catalans on his CV, scoring six tries to date including two in 2024.

10. Adam Sidlow

Veteran prop Sidlow, who has 365 senior career appearances to his name, played just one game for Salford Red Devils in 2024, though that saw him reach the milestone of 150 Super League appearances.

He also played seven games on loan for Oldham towards the end of the year, helping the Roughyeds to the League 1 title. The 36-year-old had been expected to join Sean Long’s side on a permanent basis, but that isn’t the case, with the club having confirmed his departure from Boundary Park.

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11. Mickael Goudemand

Having made 99 appearances for Catalans, who he won the Challenge Cup with in 2018 and the Super League Leaders’ Shield with in 2021, Avignon native Goudemand signed a two-year deal with Leeds ahead of 2024.

The 28-year-old, a 12-time France international, featured 18 times for the Rhinos in the season just gone. And after just one season at Headingley, the forward departed Leeds with his contract terminated by mutual consent.

12. Luis Johnson

Now 25, Johnson is searching for a third permanent home in as many seasons having made 10 appearances for Castleford in 2024 after penning a one-year contract with the Tigers. The back-rower’s Super League debut came for Warrington back in September 2018 having previously featured on loan for Rochdale Hornets.

Fast forward six years, and Johnson now has a total of 72 career appearances on his CV having donned a shirt for Widnes Vikings, Hull KR, Dewsbury Rams and Featherstone Rovers as well as the aforementioned Warrington, Rochdale and Cas.

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13. Rhys Kennedy

We’re opting to utilise an extra prop at loose in this side, and slotting Australian powerhouse Kennedy in here. The 30-year-old was let go by Hull KR at the end of the 2023 campaign and was handed a Super League lifeline by newly-promoted London, going on to make 27 appearances for the Broncos in the season just gone.

New South Wales native Kennedy had played for South Sydney Rabbitohs and Brisbane Broncos in the NRL before he joined KR, and it’s unknown whether he will return Down Under or not just yet. London boss Mike Eccles has said there are upwards of 10 players who wish to remain with the Broncos in the Championship, and we await to see whether the forward is one of those.