McDermott uncertain of Hardaker’s Leeds future

Leeds coach Brian McDermott has refused to specify what the future could hold for Zak Hardaker.

The full-back was punished this week by paying a fine and writing a letter of apology to the victim, after admitting an assualt at student flats in Leeds in early February.

There has been speculation about whether the England international would play for Leeds again, but McDermott indicated that nothing would be decided until a full investigation had been concluded.

“I think that’s what the investigation is for,” McDermott told BBC Radio Leeds.

“We’re going to find out exactly what led up to this incident and it would be wrong to make any comment on what the future might hold.

“We need to make sure that this isn’t accepted, but bigger than that, this is not what we are about.

“You cannot be out in the early hours and expect to be a professional player at the level we want you to be.”

McDermott also revealed that it was the Rhinos who had contacted police about the incident.

“We were the ones who rang the police,” he said.

“We alerted Zak and Elliot that they needed to go to the police.

“This is a blip and hopefully in our internal investigation we can find some positives in this and turn it around and some people can learn valuable lessons.”