WARRINGTON WOLVES head coach Sam Burgess is under investigation for comments made following his side’s defeat at Castleford Tigers last Sunday.
Burgess expressed his frustrations with the match officials in his post-match press conference, with remarks including: “It’s becoming very common, these poor decisions.”
He went on to add: “It’s past the point of frustration. We’ve not had one bit of dialogue (from the match officials team), there’s no input, there is no opportunity for input in over three months, so I don’t know if the game wants to get better. That’s my question: does it want to get better?”
An investigation has been opened by the RFL compliance department and Burgess has seven days to respond.
The RFL said: “This compliance action follows a note that was sent to all clubs in May expressing concern at the increasing number of public comments by head coaches relating to match officials, and stressing that comments deemed to be public criticism of match officials breaching the relevant operational rules and the sport’s Respect code of conduct could lead to compliance action.”
Meanwhile Steve McNamara and Danny McGuire, formerly coaches of Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers respectively, have received fines for their own comments about match officials.
McNamara has been fined £2,000, half of it suspended until the end of the 2026 season, for comments before and after Catalans’ Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Hull KR in April.
In his post-match press conference, McNamara said he was “pissed off” with the refereeing and asked: “Have you ever seen a semi-final where a team doesn’t get a penalty? Have you ever seen that anywhere?”
McGuire has been fined £3,000, half of it also suspended until the end of the 2026 season, for comments made following Castleford’s Super League round-16 defeat to Wigan Warriors in June.
He called some of the decisions in that game “pathetic” in his post-match press conference, adding: “Bring back some older guys like Steve Ganson, Richard Silverwood and Russell Smith. They had guts about them – they didn’t get everything right but they had guts.”
Both McNamara and McGuire have since left their positions.