Leeds Rhinos coach Brian McDermott has insisted that the club are not going to try sweep the incident involving Zak Hardaker and Elliot Minchella under the carpet, revealing that it was the Rhinos who rang the police in the first place.
Hardaker and Minchella were released without charge by police on Monday after helping police into an investigation surrounding an assault, with it later emerging the two players would pay the victim £200 in compensation as well as writing a letter of apology.
And McDermott, who didn’t confirm for certain whether Hardaker would return against Wigan on Friday night, says there’s no way the club are trying to brush off the enormity of the incident.
“We’re not trying to hide anything,” McDermott said.
“As soon as we were made aware of the pictures that were on the Yorkshire Evening Post website, we actually rang the police themselves. We were keen to make sure that he helped the police in everything they needed to do. He did that and now we conduct our own investigation.
“We’re not trying to get this done and dusted and close the door. What’s happened is a big thing, a big thing for us and a big thing for the kid who was on the other end of it.
“We made that phone call straight away and then phoned Zak. We don’t view this as a bit of a blip, it’s a big thing for us.”
