Senior, Diskin and Buderus commit futures to Leeds Rhinos

REIGNING champions Leeds have announced that seven first-team players have signed new contracts with the club.

Veteran centre Keith Senior, prop forwards Ryan Bailey and Kylie Leuluai, winger Scott Donald, forward Ali Lauitiiti and hooking duo Danny Buderus and Matt Diskin have all committed their futures to the Headingley Carnegie outfit.

Senior's extension means that the 34-year-old will be able to continue his record of appearing in every Super League campaign into a 16th season, while this weekend's clash with St Helens will be his 300th league appearance for the Rhinos.

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Bailey, 26, and Diskin, 28, are both products of the club's successful academy system, with Diskin debuting in 2001 and Bailey a year later, while free-scoring winger Donald joined the Rhinos from Manly in 2006 and has scored 89 tries since then.

Lauitiiti moved to Leeds from the New Zealand Warriors midway through the 2004 season, while fellow New Zealander Leuluai has made over 100 appearances since joining from Manly in 2007.

Buderus' re-signing represents a significant coup for the Rhinos, as there was some suggestion that the former Australia test hooker was to return to former club Newcastle at the end of the season.

"We appreciate that it is probably an unusual step to announce all seven players at once, however we are keen to stop any speculation regarding the squad for the remainder of the season and looking ahead to 2011," said chief executive Gary Hetherington.

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"Our policy is always to review the squad at the end of each season, which is what we have done for a number of years regardless of the success or failure of the previous campaign. We will continue with this policy but safe in the knowledge that our own world class talent is contracted to us for next season.

"In the current global market place and with more and more clubs spending to the full salary cap limit, the challenge of attracting and signing world class players is becoming tougher and tougher. Therefore, it makes sense to secure the very best players before looking elsewhere."

With the signings coming close to the crunch clash with the Saints, coach Brian McClennan, who recently signed a new contract of his own, was pleased to announce that he is keeping his squad together beyond the end of the season.

He said: "I am delighted that everyone has agreed contract extensions. Our captain Kevin Sinfield has spoken publicly about what a special group of players we have here and I think this once again perfectly demonstrates this.

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"We have had some tough times this season but that has only served to bring this group even closer together and everyone is determined to do as well as we can in both the Carnegie Challenge Cup and the end-of-season play-offs."

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