Leeds Rhinos second-rower Rhyse Martin will miss Thursday’s visit of Huddersfield Giants after being handed a one-match ban by the Rugby Football League’s Match Review Panel.
The Papua New Guinea international, 28, has been punished for a Grade B ‘Dangerous Contact’ challenge on a Leigh Centurions player during the first half of Leeds’ 46-10 win at the Leigh Sports Village on Friday.
The suspension of Martin is another blow to Richard Agar’s side as they battle to make the Super League play-offs.
The victory at Leigh saw scrum-half Luke Gale (knee) and centre Konrad Hurrell (foot) pick up injures which look certain to rule them out of the Giants clash.
Problems are mounting for Agar with Liam Sutcliffe having been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
He joined the likes of Alex Walker, Alex Mellor and, in all probability, Mikolaj Oledzki as season-ending injury victims.
Matt Prior missed the last two games after testing positive for Covid-19, but is expected to be back in contention for Thursday’s home clash with Huddersfield.
Meanwhile, Zane Tetevano has escaped a ban despite an incident which referee Roberts Hicks placed on report during last Friday’s win at Leigh.
The imposing New Zealand-born forward, 30, was involved in a challenge which forced Matty Russell off the field and left the Leigh man sidelined for the rest of the game.
