McDermott fined following Catalan comments

Leeds coach Brian McDermott has been fined for comments he made after the Rhinos’ win in Catalan.

McDermott was critical of referee Ben Thaler following the 27-12 victory, and was found guilty of publically criticising the manner in which matches are officiated, a breach of two RFL Operational Rules and the RFL’s respect policy.

After the game at Easter, McDermott said: “Catalans get awarded more penalties than anyone else in the competition, and they have done for the last two years.

“I coached the London team for four years and they were awarded the least amount of penalties for four consecutive years. That is a big issue when you come to Catalans.

“To be consistently awarded the most penalties when they play at home, I think that would need addressing. At one point the penalty count was 15-3, I thought we did remarkably well to overcome that.

McDermott was instructed to pay £250 immediately with a further £250 suspended until the end of the 2014 season.