Senior on market after Leeds exit

(PA)

Keith Senior's long career at Leeds is over, but he is likely to carry on elsewhere in Super League.

The 35-year-old former Great Britain centre is out of contract at the end of this season and will not play again following major knee surgery. The club announced yesterday that it would not be offering him a new contract, although he will make a farewell appearance in their Boxing Day friendly.

"This has been a hard decision for Keith and the club to make," said the Rhinos' chief executive, Gary Hetherington, who called Senior his "greatest-ever signing". He has been a fixture since arriving from Sheffield Eagles in 1999.

"I understand the club's desire to look to the future and that has freed me up to look at other options," Senior said. "I can play at least another two seasons in Super League."

Those two seasons could well be at Crusaders, if rumours of a two-year deal with the Wrexham-based club come to fruition. Their chief executive, Rod Findlay, said: "We have spoken to him but he's also spoken to a few other clubs. I imagine there will be a lot of interest."

John Kear, his coach at Sheffield, notably for the 1998 Challenge Cup final triumph, has already said that he would like to take him to Wakefield. The trouble with that is that Wakefield's Super League future is anything but assured, with the allocation of new three-year licences later this month.

Other interested parties could include Senior's hometown club Huddersfield, Castleford or Hull, if Martin Gleeson does not emerge successfully from his current stress-related illness.

Another veteran, the 33-year-old Danny Orr, has agreed to stay a further season at Castleford, combining playing with coaching the Under-18s.