Leeds Rhinos star subject to rugby union interest with Premiership club named

Leeds Rhinos star Harry Newman could well have made the switch over to rugby union during the early days of his career, it has been revealed, having held talks with former Premiership outfit Wasps.

Rhinos academy product Newman made his senior bow back in July 2017 against Wigan Warriors, and eventually made a proper breakthrough into the first-team at Headingley in 2019.

Crowned Super League‘s Young Player of the Year in 2020, the 24-year-old has now made over 120 senior appearances in the game and has six caps on his CV for Shaun Wane’s England side as well as one for England Knights.

Newman’s next game for Leeds will see him reach the milestone of 100 appearances for the club, but the young centre’s journey could have been very different.

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Rugby union interest in homegrown Leeds Rhinos star revealed

A round-up of the latest union news published by The Daily Mail detailed veteran coach Eddie Jones’ influence in convincing Joseph Sua’ali’i to make the switch over to the 15-a-side code from league.

Departing NRL outfit Sydney Roosters at the end of the 2024 season, Sua’ali’i made his Wallabies debut over the weekend against England and earned the Player of the Match award in a 42-37 victory, with that Australia’s first win at Twickenham since 2015.

And in that same round-up, published on Wednesday, it was revealed that during his time as England’s coach, Jones showed ‘a strong interest’ in Newman and tried to convince him to make the switch.

The round-up also revealed that Newman held talks with Wasps at the time, who eventually went into administration during the 2022/23 Premiership campaign and now hope to be back involved in the professional game come 2025.

The exact timeframe of Jones and Wasps’ interest in Newman wasn’t revealed, but Jones was in charge of England from November 2015 to December 2022.

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