Leeds Rhinos legend Ryan Hall has announced his retirement at the age of 38.

The winger made his senior debut for the Rhinos in May 2007 and went on to score 358 tries in 540 career appearances.

The former England international, who also had spells with Sydney Roosters and Hull KR, won six Grand Finals and two Challenge Cups with Leeds.

“I think the time’s right that I hang up the boots. I’ve done it for 20 years and I’ve loved every minute of it,” he told the club website., external

“The club’s in a good position to go with the youth, that’s the natural progression in rugby league.”

Hall, who will move into a commercial role at the club, is Super League’s second highest scorer with 274, seven behind Leigh winger Josh Charnley.

He left Leeds for Sydney Roosters after the 2018 season but failed to score a try in 11 NRL appearances across two seasons.

Hull KR brought him back to Super League for the 2021 campaign and he scored 62 tries in 102 games for the Robins before returning to Leeds two years ago.

He scored 10 times in 24 appearances in 2026 as the Rhinos finished second and his final appearance for the club came in their play-off semi-final defeat by Warrington at Headingley.

“I am pleased to have had the honour to work with Ryan over the last couple of years,” head coach Brad Arthur said.

“He has performed at the very highest level for his club and country and he leaves the field on his terms, having maintained his presence for 20 years; that is a remarkable achievement.”

The club have said Hall, who scored 39 tries in 45 appearances for England and was part of the side that finished runner-up in the 2017 World Cup final, will make a “cameo appearance” in a pre-season match against Hull FC in January as part of a testimonial.

Clearly, Baleba must do a bit more than run fast, and his input must be felt in the dressing room as well as on the pitch.

Sources say an understandable initial shyness and nervousness seems to be being overcome. Baleba is not the most confident English speaker, but he has improved significantly since he moved to Brighton from Lille for £23.2m in 2023.

He has struck up a friendship with Amad Diallo. It is coincidence two young players from Africa should be going through their recovery work at the same time, but also helpful that a shared background creates a natural bond that has been built on over the last few weeks.

Amad was even laughing on the video he uploaded onto social media of Baleba poking fun at him after Cameroon beat his Ivory Coast in a friendly on 3 October.

A former team-mate of new France international Leny Yoro at Lille and Bryan Mbeumo at international level, Baleba already has other unexpected relationships at United’s Carrington training ground judging by his joking with Patrick Dorgu after the final game of last season at the Amex Stadium.

The key for United is that Baleba produces the performances that lit up his 2024-25 campaign and earned suggestions of a potential move to Real Madrid, rather than those last term which were often below-par.

Suggestions Baleba had his head turned by late interest from United in the summer of 2025 have been dismissed by Brighton sources, although an alternative reason for the dip in form has not been offered.

As it turned out, the background work done by the data and recruitment teams at Carrington 12 months ago was not wasted. After missing out on Elliot Anderson and Mateus Fernandes, and with other options deemed unsuitable, United moved for Baleba just before the shock opening-day defeat at Hull, completing the deal just afterwards.

Given they were being quoted significantly more than £100m for the midfielder in August 2025, they regard £70m as good business.

However, Baleba is yet to step on the pitch and as Fernandes has shown in his disappointing early performances for Tottenham, any early assessment of what constitutes a good deal should at least wait for that.

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