Leeds Rhinos boss Richard Agar to appeal against £1,000 fine: Wakefield Trinity chief executive Michael Carter also punished by RFL

Leeds Rhinos coach Richard Agar will appeal against a £1,000 fine for allegedly criticising the RFL’s match review panel.
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Wakefield Trinity chief executive Michael Carter has been penalised £2,000 for a statement made about the sport’s disciplinary process.

The governing body has confirmed both men, along with Catalans Dragons’ general manager Alex Chan, were found guilty of breaching its operational rules and Respect policy.

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Half of Agar’s fine, which relates to comments made on June 30, has been suspended until the end of this season.

Richard Agar. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.comRichard Agar. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com
Richard Agar. Picture by Allan McKenzie/SWpix.com

Discussing Rhinos forward Alex Mellor’s failed attempt to overturn a one-match suspension, Agar said it had been a fair hearing, but pointed out two members of the panel which rejected the appeal were ex-Leigh players.

The ban - for making physical contact with referee Robert Hicks during Rhinos’ win at Salford Red Devils - meant Mellor missed Rhinos’ home Betfred Super League game against Leigh Centurions on July 1.

Carter was fined £2,000, with £750 suspended until the end of the 2022 season, for a statement issued on July 14.

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The Trinity chief hit out after the RFL’s match review panel suspended three players over incidents in Wakefield’s home loss to St Helens the previous weekend.

Carter described the charges - brought against Wakefield’s Joe Arundel and Ryan Hampshire and Sione Mata’utia of St Helens, who was ruled out of the Challenge Cup final - as “random”.

He insisted: “I am all for eradicating foul play, but these are just one nameless person’s opinion on a Monday morning.”

And Carter claimed it is “impossible to win an appeal unless you’ve enough evidence to free Ronnie Biggs”.

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Of appeals tribunals, he alleged: “Three people sit there, two of them not saying anything, with no experience of the modern game, an inability to take any sort of mitigation into account and an overriding ability to just say ‘guilty’.”

The RFL insisted it “works constantly with clubs on the efficacy of the game’s disciplinary procedures. Those procedures include the right of appeal and the opportunity for internal feedback".

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