‘Nothing surprises me’ – Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith shares his view on Morgan Knowles disciplinary process

Leeds Rhinos boss Rohan Smith has taken a subtle swipe at the disciplinary process following Morgan Knowles’ overturned ban.

Last night, Knowles and St Helens went to an Operations Rules Tribunal to appeal for a second time against the ban handed to the England international.

St Helens, in the form of CEO Mike Rush, contested that their challenge was based on the fact that the original tribunal’s decision was contradictory and they came to a decision to which no reasonable body could have come.

Now, though, Leeds head coach Smith has revealed his own view on the event, taking a sly swipe at the Match Review Panel and disciplinary process.

Having been asked if the decision surprised him, Smith said: “No, nothing would surprise me as far as that process goes.”

Smith continued: “Each hearing is its own individual thing, and as we’ve found from Tuesday to Wednesday, a different group of people can find a different answer to the same tackle.

“I’m not on the inside of what went down in the hearing.

“I’ve seen the tackle and that’s it. Everyone has seen it.”

Meanwhile, Leeds legend Barrie McDermott was unhappy with the decision.

“In my opinion that is a two-match ban, everyone was sort of satisfied. It has a knock-on effect for England in the World Cup but regardless, everyone was satisfied,” McDermott told Sky Sports News.

“I think the disciplinary needs to be completely scrapped, overhauled, we wipe the slate clean and we find something everyone is happy with because I don’t think anyone outside of St Helens will be happy with this.”