The Leeds coach, Brian McDermott, has expressed his disappointment that James Segeyaro has expressed his wish to leave the club but says he still expects the hooker to return to the club next season.
In July Segeyaro, who was born in Papua New Guinea and raised in Australia, agreed a two-year extension to the short-term deal under which he joined the Rhinos earlier this year. Yet he told Australian media last week he did not want to return to Leeds in 2017, citing homesickness as the main reason for his wish to try to secure a new contract in the NRL next year.
McDermott still holds out hope the 26-year-old will return in January as planned. “We’re expecting him to be back,” he said. “We made a commitment to James and he made one to us, so we’re expecting him to return. I spoke to him on the phone and he expressed some concerns – which I don’t want to say too much about – in relation to coming back.
“We’ve made an obligation to him and he engaged in an agreement with us and they aren’t to be broken lightly. If he looks you in the eye, says he’ll be back whenever and doesn’t come, that’s a big thing.”
McDermott also admitted Segeyaro’s comments about his time in Yorkshire had disappointed him. “I feel bad for some of our staff who spent an unbelievable amount of time looking after him,” he added. “It’s disappointing with some of the things he’s said about being here and staring at four walls, which leads people to believe he was brought here and shoved into a concrete room. You’ve got to understand how big this is.”
However, McDermott did concede they have contingency plans in place should Segeyaro fail to return and fulfil his obligations with the Rhinos, who finished top of the Qualifiers Super 8s last season to retain their Super League place. He said: “There’s always a plan B. I don’t want to go into it too much but agents are always in contact with a fluid list of players. I still expect he’ll come back in the right frame of mind, but of course we’ve got plans in place.”
