BRAD ARTHUR has revealed that Leeds Rhinos players apologised to the RFL’s match officials department after an ill-disciplined performance against Hull FC last Sunday.
The Rhinos were penalised on several occasions for dissent by referee Liam Moore as they went down 24-16 to the Black and Whites.
Head coach Arthur says an apology was subsequently made to the RFL’s director of operations Robert Hicks for his players’ behaviour.
“Our boys have worked really hard on their relationship with referees and didn’t want to be the team that’s in their face all the time and throwing their arms around,” Arthur said.
“We reverted back to that under frustration for the second 40 minutes against Hull. I wanted them to apologise and say that we shouldn’t have treated the referees with a lack of respect.
“They were good about it and took it on board. The same way they apologised and owned up to a mistake last year, we made a mistake and we have moved on from it.”
However, Arthur is still set to change things up for Leeds’ clash against Warrington Wolves on Sunday – even if it’s just the amount of minutes players will accrue on the field.
“There will be consequences from that defeat around game time. Guys are wanting to play lots of minutes but they’ve got to earn it,” he said.
“Everyone is entitled to make mistakes. I’ve made plenty in my life but there won’t be any repeat offenders.
“I’m going to stick up for our team because that’s how they feel about what happened but we need to move on from it.
“Our guys care about the club and our performances but it wasn’t up to our standards.”