Gary Hetherington outlines financial challenges and how Leeds Rhinos are overcoming them

The Rhinos recently struck the biggest commercial deal in the club's history with local business AMT Auto for the naming rights to Headingley, while main backers Leeds Building Society this week extended their sponsorship until the end of 2026.

Leeds have used the financial boost to improve Rohan Smith's squad at a time when clubs are feeling the squeeze.

"All sports clubs, not just in rugby league, are challenged,” said Hetherington. "It is a challenging environment.

"The central distributions will be less than they have been in the past and the costs have all significantly increased. Our energy bill, for example, has gone up by £300,000.

"Every one of us is challenged but we believe we have the potential to attract even more fans and corporate sponsors to our business and organisation.

"We are very much ‘team Rhinos’ – it’s not just the men’s team but also the women’s and wheelchair and disability teams.

"It is very much a family affair and we are looking at improving all aspects of our operation and in particular all aspects of our performance."

The men's team endured a miserable 2023 season after failing to build on last year's late run to the Grand Final.

Leeds missed out on the top four for the sixth year in a row and finished four points adrift of the play-off positions.

"This year’s performance, coming eighth in Super League, clearly was a disappointment," added Hetherington.

"The time to reflect on all that is the end of the season and that exercise has been done very thoroughly and has thrown up quite a number of areas that need to improve throughout our operation.

“All those areas have been addressed and I am pretty confident we will have a very well-functioning rugby league operation going forward.”

Leeds have overhauled Smith's squad since the Australian's arrival, with Croft and Ackers taking the tally of signings for 2024 to six.

After making “the biggest single investment in players the club has made since the signing of Iestyn Harris 26 years ago”, Hetherington has hinted at further additions to bolster Smith's options.

"We are still in the market, still looking at refining certain positions in the squad but the major signings have all been made now," said Hetherington.

“Since the beginning of the year it has been a very exhaustive search, particularly in the NRL. Our due diligence now is probably greater than at any other time, in terms of the information and feedback we get, not only on players’ abilities but also their desire, character and influence within the group.

“They are all key components which we absolutely need to get right and obviously Rohan Smith is at the head of all that.”