Leeds' Rhyse Martin is "sick of wasting energy" on controversial disciplinary talk.
All his efforts now are trained on dethroning champions St Helens. The Australian second-row returns to action in Saturday's Betfred Super League Grand Final after being forced to sit out his club’s two play-off games. He was handed a one-match ban for a high tackle on Alex Mellor that even the Castleford player felt wasn’t even a penalty.
But when Leeds challenged the ruling Martin saw his suspension doubled for a ‘frivolous’ appeal. To make matters worse, St Helens saw their loose forward Morgan Knowles have his two-game ban for a dangerous contact wiped out completely on a second appeal this week so he’s free to play tomorrow.
A frustrated Martin admitted: “I’m not surprised, to be honest. We prepared as if he (Knowles) was going to play. It’s different from mine. Mine was completely accidental and his was intentional but it is what it is.”
Tongue firmly in cheek, the Papua New Guinea captain added: “Good on them. Whoever wants to make that decision they can and I’d like to think the RFL are doing the best thing for the sport. I don’t even know what’s a ban and what’s not. I’ve just got to focus on Saturday and let them make their decisions. I’m sick of wasting energy and talking about these guys who have so much influence on the game. It’s a lot of wasted energy.”
Leeds were just a point above bottom-placed Toulouse when Rohan Smith was appointed head coach in April. But they have won 11 of their last 13 games under the Australian to put themselves on the verge of the most stunning Super League win yet. Martin had a nervous wait on the sidelines as Rhinos faced Catalans and Wigan in sudden-death play-offs.
But he insisted: “I had full confidence the team would get there. We always had the hope we’d get to the big one and the boys who’ve played the last two weeks have done a great job. I’m 100 per cent confident we can win.
"We’ve faced adversity for a long time now. Every game for us has been a play-off standard. I'm not surprised we got there. We didn’t have the start to the season we’d like but I was always confident we had the team to do it. We got to where we needed to be.”
Martin, 29, won the Challenge Cup with Leeds two years ago but has never played in a major Grand Final. His goalkicking could be key tonight and the ex-Canterbury forward could pass Wakefield’s Mason Lino’s Super League and NRL record of 36 successive goal kicks without a miss having equalled the feat against Castleford.
