Leeds Rhinos boss hits out at costly referee call in Magic Weekend defeat

In the third and final game on day one of Super League’s 2024 edition of Magic Weekend, Leeds Rhinos lost 24-6 to Warrington Wolves but head coach Brad Arthur was left bemoaning a crucial game-changing decision.

In fact, Arthur was actually querying three decisions that all came within the space of two minutes and saw the game completely turn on its head and cost Leeds the game, but potentially also help end their playoff hopes this season.

With the score 8-0 to Warrington Wolves after a late George Williams try in the first half, the game was in the balance. It looked like Leeds Rhinos were getting their foothold in the match as they attacked Warrington’s line and forced a knock-on.

However, the knock-on was not called and just seconds later when Rhyse Martin stripped the ball, he was punished. Shortly after Matty Ashton was unleashed on the left wing and David Fusitu’a found himself sin-binned for ‘stopping a try-scoring opportunity’.

On that next play, Warrington would score before adding another during the ten-minute period that they had a man advantage and in that short period, all hope of Leeds Rhinos winning the game dissipated.

Post-game, their head coach Brad Arthur gave his verdict to Sky Sports with the Australian querying the decisions that referee Chris Kendall made.

Leeds Rhinos boss unhappy with “tough calls”

Speaking to Jenna Brooks on Sky Sports immediately after the game, the Leeds Rhinos boss spoke on his frustration at the defeat and how it played out.

“I’m very disappointed. I don’t feel like we deserved to be beaten like that,” Arthur explained.

“Not much went our way. There were some tough calls that were big moments in the game that changed the game.

“I said to the boys at half-time that I felt like they were getting on top. We couldn’t get a penalty in the first half but I thought we were getting on top, the effort was unreal, and the physicality and the line speed. It was probably the best half of footy I’ve seen us play.”

Specifically asked on the David Fusitu’a yellow which had been described as a ‘poor’ decision by former Super League referee Richard Silverwood, Arthur highlighted that it was simply the result of a spell of tough calls his side came on the wrong side of.

Arthur argued: “It was on the back of us attacking their line, we put a kick in, they knocked on but it was called knocked back, and then we stripped one on one, and we got penalised. Then they go down the other end and we get a sin bin so three bad calls cost us a player and they scored two tries when we were a player down.

“I was really happy with the boys there because they dug deep and they even at the end they still felt like they were trying to win.

“Footy is a tough game and sometimes it can be cruel and we’ve just got to lick our wounds and get on with it next week because there’s not much we can do about it now.”

Leeds Rhinos now sit four points shy of the top six with just ten points available and will need to win every game in all likelihood to make the playoffs, whereas Warrington moved level on points with Hull KR to keep the pressure on in the race for the top two.