Leeds Rhinos will be without Blake Austin for Saturday's Super League opener against Warrington Wolves after deciding against appealing his one-match ban - but the Rhinos are understood to have aired their frustrations to the Rugby Football League over the process surrounding the timing of the process which led to Austin being suspended.
The RFL announced on Monday that Austin had received a one-match ban for a dangerous tackle during Leeds' pre-season game with Hull FC eight days earlier.
Suspensions relating to cases from the previous weekend's fixtures are usually handed out no later than the following Tuesday, which changes to Thursday in pre-season, and the Rhinos are understood to have aired their frustration to the RFL over why it took over a week to ban Austin. They were told a 'backlog of cases' had contributed to the delay.
