Blake Austin was a popular player in Super League. Across spells with Warrington Wolves, Leeds Rhinos and, briefly, the Castleford Tigers, he made over 100 appearances, scoring 35 tries. He was due to spend the entire 2023 season with Leeds Rhinos, however, his spell came to an abrupt end in August last year.
With Austin playing regularly in a struggling Rhinos side, he gave a string of explosive post-match interviews. Austin called out the Leeds hierarchy for failing to reward him for his performances with the club with a new contract.
Now, speaking on his Instagram page, Austin has offered a dramatic insight into how his departure from Headingley came about. He claims head coach, Rohan Smith, told him that a new deal would be on the table, only to change his mind and inform Austin he was reconsidering the offer.
Austin claimed that Smith offered him a one-year extension on the same terms at his previous deal, following Leeds’ game against Huddersfield in 2023. However, that offer was then re-considered, without Austin being informed.
“In terms of why I left abruptly, look, 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.” Austin said.
“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.”
When the contract offer never materialised, Austin confronted Smith in an attempt to clarify his future with the Rhinos.
“[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.”