Hetherington admits responsibility after Leeds fined

Chief executive Gary Hetherington admitted his disappointment after Leeds Rhinos have been fined £20,000 for salary cap breaches. The Headingley outfit were charged with failing to declare payments totalling £55,000 to three players during the 2018 season during which they exceeded the cap at four separate points. Half of the fine has been suspended for two years by the Rugby Football League and Hetherington, who admitted the error, was left frustrated. “This was an administrative error on our part for which I take responsibility,” he said. “We are obviously disappointed to lose our 23-year unblemished salary cap compliance record. “We had no idea we had exceeded the ‘live’ cap at the time and, with hindsight, we could have averted the breach by loaning out a player to another club.” The mistake came about after Jack Walker and Luke Briscoe were promoted from part-time to full-time status during the season, causing an administrative error in the accounting.