The Hull Kingston Rovers have addressed rumours that their star forward Jared Waerea-Hargreaves could be making a bombshell return to the NRL.
One of the greatest forwards to wear the New Zealand Kiwis and Sydney Roosters jersey, the front-rower announced his retirement last season, ending his stint as one of the Bondi-based club's longest-tenured players.
A New Zealand representative prop with 33 Tests under his belt, Waerea-Hargreaves spent 16 seasons in the NRL (15 of them with the Sydney Roosters) where he amassed 316 first-grade appearances and won three premierships in 2013, 2018 and 2019.
Although he is contracted at Hull Kingston Rovers in the Super League until the end of 2025, this hasn't stopped Waerea-Hargreaves from being linked with a potential return to the Sydney Roosters after the team have nearly $600,000 available worth of funds free in its salary cap.
However, Hull's head coach Willie Peters has now dismissed the rumours, stating that he will remain at the club for the rest of the 2025 Super League season and will see out his contract.
"Jared is more than happy here and will see his contract out for this year," Peters said.
"I don't think approaches have been made by the Roosters from my understanding, but I had a conversation with Jared.
"He's more than happy and we're looking forward to seeing him play throughout the year."
The most-capped player in Roosters' history - overtaking Mitchell Aubusson - Waerea-Hargreaves is a future Hall of Famer at the club and departed the team alongside Sitili Tupouniua, Terrell May, Joseph Manu, Joseph Suaalii and Luke Keary in the off-season.
Having turned 36 in January, the forward only signed a one-year deal with the Hull Kingston Rovers and will be off-contract at the end of the season.
Speaking about his future, Peters admitted that he would be happy to have him around the squad for an extra season and grant him a contract extension.
"We've had minimal chats but that will be entirely up to Jared," Peters added.
"He'll make the call and he's earned the right to decide whether he wants to go again or whether it's time to retire. Either way, we'll support it.
"We'd love to have Jared around longer term but if he decided it was his last year and he wanted to finish, we'd have to support that."
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