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Richard Agar speaks out about Rhyse Martin ban

Richard Agar’s Leeds has been doing it tough in terms of injuries and suspensions in 2021, but another dilemma was added to the list this week when Rhyse Martin was handed a one-match ban.

Leeds’ Martin hit a passer late in the Rhinos’ 46-10 demolition of Leigh at the weekend in just the third minute.

A one match penalty notice, but a Grade B charge was due to the “dangerous contact” element, in which he put the Leigh man in a “vulnerable position” which posed “an unacceptable risk of injury to that player.”

But, Agar is unhappy about that decision to ban Martin.

“Paul Cullen (the head of the disciplinary panel) is doing his job,” Agar said.

“I understand why these laws were brought in to protect players but we’ve seen guys get one or two games for getting in positions which are very hard to pull out of against a ball player.

“There’s only a quarter of second between the ball leaving, bu we perhaps need to do a few training drills as we need to learn how to tackle people without touching them,” Agar joked.

The Leeds boss does, however, have bad injury news.

“It wasn’t good news from the scan unfortunately for Luke Gale, it’s a grade 3 medial which is not the scenario we wanted.

“We weren’t too sure after the game. Luke’s initial feelings post game weren’t good and he could feel it, so it’s a minimum of at least six weeks.

“Konrad has torn his plantar fascia which is an impact injury so he will be in a boot for 4-6 weeks.

“James Donaldson, King Vuniyayawa and Callum McLelland will return and some of the young guys will be back from the championship for the 20-man squad.”

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