Richard Agar ‘majorly disappointed’ after RFL gives eight-day notice for Blake Austin’s ban

Blake Austin will sit out Leeds Rhinos’ fixture against Warrington Wolves this Saturday afternoon, that point is for sure.

However, Leeds boss Richard Agar believes that the circumstances in which the club found out has left them ‘majorly disappointed’.

Austin was banned eight days after the Rhinos’ game against Hull FC where he received his yellow card and Agar feels that time span was too long.

“We’re hugely disappointed, irrespective of the grading of the tackle – is it a caution a or b? – irrespective if he would or wouldn’t have been involved in the Hunslet game, we’re just majorly disappointed that we found out eight days after we uploaded our game and it came on Monday,” Agar said.

“It impacted our preparation so as a club we’re hugely disappointed, but we’re not going to waste too much energy on it.

“We will take it down the correct channels behind the scenes and not try and make it a focus of tomorrow.”

With that being said, Agar held his cards even closer to his chest when debating what side he would put out as Harry Newman was a surprise inclusion in his 21-man squad.

“We’re feeling better every day, but with Blake going out we’re not going to reveal our team and Harry’s inclusion could impact who could play at 6.”