BLAKE AUSTIN has lifted the lid on his bitter exit from the Leeds Rhinos and the “bulls*it” reasons for his departure from the Super League.
Austin, who had spent the 2022 and 2023 Super League seasons at Headingley, exited the West Yorkshire club just before the August transfer deadline to join rivals Castleford Tigers.
On his Instagram page, the experienced halfback, who now plays in Australia with local side Entrance Tigers, has revealed all on the failed contract negotiations.
Austin explained: “In terms of why I left abruptly, I spat the dummy a little bit for sure, but I was pretty upset with how my contract was dealt with. I was 33 years old. Rohan was very aware of what I was capable of.”
but as it panned out there was a game at Headingley against Huddersfield.
“There was a game at Headingley against Huddersfield. I had a pretty good match and celebrated the match in the lovely sheds of Headingley after.
“Rohan sort of took it upon himself to come over and sit next to me and basically had a chat to say that if I’m happy to stick around, he wants me to stay for another year.
He said, ‘listen, it’ll only be a one-year contract. It’ll be the same money that you’re on,’ which was fairly modest for my abilities. As we know, Leeds don’t pay their players as well as some other clubs.
“But at that stage we’d bought a house my kids had settled and I was very excited by that news, I knew where I was going to be for the next 12 months – or so I thought.”
That offer was never forthcoming, and now Austin has lifted the lid on the confrontation with Smith.
“[Smith’s] reply was that there had been a few things that had happened over the last little while that had made him reconsider. And I sort of said, well, that’s all good and well, but you sort of engaged in convo with me to tell me, you know, you wanted me to stick around.
“And I felt like he enjoyed delivering that good news to me. So I just felt like I was owed the courtesy of, you know, letting me know if things had changed.
“So he sort of acknowledged that he got that wrong and he probably should have called me back in to let me know.”
When delivering the news he wouldn’t be kept on, Smith apparently cited three reasons.
“He gave me three pretty b******t reasons which added to my frustrations. One was, I had an epidural on your back – one that I never asked for. One was that I had a little tiff with Cameron Smith on the training paddock which was a little back and forth, nothing major and I thought it was left at that.
“The other was a fair call though, I played a game away at Leigh and I tried a bit too hard. We lost Aidan (Sezer), and me and Jack Sinfield were in the halves.
“Instead of letting the young kid carry his weight in the team I tried to shoulder both halves’ responsibility and tried too hard and we lost the match. So I was in agreement with that one, but my biggest gripe was he didn’t feel the need to come back and let me know.
“I felt at 33 I had that respect to at least at a bare minimum keep me in the loop. A coach coming to players to discuss contracts is not something I’ve ever done, I pay my agent for those types of conversations.”
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