Leeds Rhinos: Forward Mullally hit for six by repeated knee action disciplinary citings

The tall forward has seen such incidents, when acting as the ball carrier, considered SIX separate times by the match review panel this year.

Mullally has been banned on three occasions – for two offences against Widnes Vikings in May and another versus Leigh Centurions the following month – having also received a ‘no charge’ for a couple of incidents earlier in the campaign.

However, just as it seemed the nagging problem was eradicated from his game, the 27-year-old was then cautioned for striking with a knee in Leeds’ opening Qualifiers game against Toulouse Olympique.

Thankfully, there was no repeat during Sunday’s win at London Broncos, but Mullally told the YEP: “It does frustrate me as I have no idea I’m doing it.

“I’m six foot six and don’t think I’ve ever made contact with anyone but I keep getting cited. I’ll be devastated if I’m cited again for it.

“I’m doing all I can and working on it and just trying to be conscious of what I’m not doing.

“But I don’t want it to take away from my game. I’ve looked at clips from 2015 when I was playing and I did it then so I don’t know why they’ve just been picking me up on it now. All I can do is just try to keep working at it and, hopefully, I won’t get banned again.”

The Ireland international hopes to finish the season strongly after recovering from another issue.

“I’m two games back after a concussion and it was quite a long concussion as I kept playing and training with it,” explained Mullally, who came off the bench for the 13th time this year in the 48-32 win at Ealing.

“It was my own fault as I didn’t say anything. It took a while to get right. I’m slowly trying to get back to where I was.

“We’ve got a week off now so I’ll have some down-time – go spend a bit of time with nature and get back in afterwards!”

Leeds have won their opening two Qualifiers games to ease fears about being dragged into the relegation mire.

But both games so far were against Championship opposition so their next fixture – at home to Super League rivals Hull KR on Saturday week – should be more taxing.

Ex-Huddersfield Giants front-row Mullally admitted: “We’ll definitely have to be better than we were against London. Hull KR got a good win in Toronto on Saturday and they are a good team. They are a Super League side full of quality players so we can’t afford to be complacent. We have a week off to rest up and then get ready.”

Mullally conceded just getting the victory over London was paramount – they led 48-10 at one stage in the second period – as they seek to secure their top-flight status.

“We’re in a rebuilding process as a team and just have to notch the wins off,” he added.

“The first half was great but we took the foot off the throat in the second.

“London played well but we need to improve again.”