Leeds Rhinos CEO Gary Hetherington says there could be a cavalcade of hookers leaving the NRL soon with the advent of a reduction in the interchange allowing clubs to play one dummy-half.

The Super League powerhouse needs to replace Papua New Guinean international Paul Aiton with talks ongoing with Canberra’s Glen Buttriss.

“We could have signed any number of players over the last two months but we weren’t in a rush,” Hetherington said.

“It’s important we get the right player. There’s been quite a lot of availability of players in the NRL because they have reduced their interchanges.

“Most NRL teams carry two hookers but because they’ve got less interchanges they want their hooker to play 80 minutes which has effectively made quite a number of them redundant.

“Our job has been to find out who’s available and who’s interested in coming including players who are in contract.

“We have been doing quite a lot of due diligence and drawing up a shortlist, with the preferred option to be determined by [coach] Brian McDermott.”