Leeds winger Ryan Hall has announced his retirement from rugby league at the age of 38.
“I’m officially retiring from playing rugby league,” Hall said. “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.”
The Rothwell-born player made his senior debut for the Rhinos in May 2007 and finished his career with 358 tries in 540 appearances across club and representative levels.
He won six Super League grand finals and two Challenge Cups during his first spell at Headingley, and is Super League’s second-highest try-scorer with 274 or 275, behind only Leigh’s Josh Charnley.
Hall left Leeds after the 2018 season for a two-year stint with Sydney Roosters, where he scored no tries in 11 NRL games, before returning to Super League with Hull KR in 2021 and scoring 62 tries in more than 100 appearances, including a grand final appearance in 2024.
He rejoined Leeds for the 2025 and 2026 seasons, scoring 10 tries in 24 appearances this year as the Rhinos finished second, with his final competitive outing coming in the play-off semi-final defeat to Warrington at Headingley, where he crossed for a try.
“The club’s in a good position to go with the youth, that’s the natural progression in rugby league,” Hall said. “I’ve always wanted the best for the club at heart and if the decision is to go with the youth at this point in time, that suits me down to a tee because I have had 20 years of loving every second of it. That’s enough.”
England’s record try-scorer with 39 in 40 Tests, who also played twice for Great Britain, added: “I said at the time it would be a dream come true to go full circle and finish off in front of a Leeds crowd, which I’m lucky enough to have been able to do. Not everybody gets that option to finish how they want to do it. I know we could have finished with a trophy in our hands but that wasn’t to be. But I’m certainly over the moon that I got to finish here at AMT Headingley in front of the crowd that supported me for over 20 years.”
Hall will take up a commercial role at the club and has been granted a three-month testimonial from December, including a cameo appearance in a pre-season friendly against Hull FC in January. “I will feature in that game. It won’t be massive amounts, that game has got to be a stepping stone to get the players ready who are going to take to the field in round one of Super League, but I will be making a small cameo appearance. It will be nice to put the boots on for one final time,” he said.
