Luke Keary lands fine after controversial Super League slander

Catalans Dragons half-back Luke Keary has been handed a £1,000 fine, with half of the total suspended until the end of the 2026 season, following his controversial comments on the state of Super League.

At the beginning of May, an explosive interview with Keary was published by Australian outlet Wide World of Sports.

In that interview, the 33-year-old labelled Super League ‘horrendous’ and ‘unwatchable’.

Unsurprisingly, the former NRL star’s comments caused plenty of outrage, and RL Commercial’s Managing Director Rhodri Jones revealed that the ex-South Sydney Rabbitohs and Sydney Roosters man had reached out to apologise.

Now though, he has been hit with a fine, though he will only have to pay £500 of that unless he commits another similar offence by the end of next season.

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Catalans Dragons star Luke Keary lands fine after controversial Super League slander

As a reminder, here is a snippet of what Keary said – on record – to the press Down Under: “If (the NRL) don’t buy it, they’re in a lot of trouble… all the players are open to it.

“I’ll go on the record saying (Super League) is in such a bad way, the game is horrendous over here. It’s the product, the coverage, the news around the game, there is zero. There is zero.

“Just the top teams have support and that is it. You watch the games, they’re near unwatchable. The way Sky do it now, or whoever’s got it, it’s near unwatchable, and the players all know it. I can’t follow it and I f***ing play in it.

“You can’t watch the games, it’s so bad… it’s horrendous. The coverage and everything, and because we’’e in France too they don’t show the games.”

A statement issued by the RFL confirmed that former Australia and Ireland player Keary was in breach of their behaviour standards.

In full, it reads: “Luke Keary of Catalans Dragons has been fined £1,000, with half of it suspended until the end of the 2026 season, after pleading guilty to making comments which breached the RFL’s Operational Rules in an interview which was broadcast last month.

“The rules breached included C2:10 (Behaviour Standards) and D1:1(b) (Conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game).

“In explaining the recommended sanction, RFL Compliance have written to Mr Keary as follows: ‘In mitigation, you have accepted full responsibility for your words.

“Although you do state that the tone and wording were harsher than you intended them to be, you do not deny they are your words, and you have pleaded guilty to a breach of the Operational Rules.”

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