McGuire and Sezer face anxious wait to see if they’ll make Super League opener

James Gordon 06 Feb 2023 1:35 PM

Josh McGuire and Aidan Sezer face an anxious wait to see if misdemeanours over the weekend will rule them out of the Super League opener between Warrington and Leeds next Thursday.

Both received cards in pre-season friendlies, with the RFL’s Match Review Panel not due to meet until Thursday, when they will also review incidents from the first round of Championship action.

That means any suspension for McGuire will not be able to be served in Warrington’s final pre-season friendly against North Wales Crusaders on Friday.

Mystery surrounds the exact circumstances of McGuire’s dismissal in the Wolves’ 22-10 win over Leigh Leopards on Saturday night.

Josh McGuire was sent off by referee Marcus Griffiths in the aftermath of a try from Warrington’s Ben Currie, who was celebrating his testimonial.

After the game, Wolves coach Daryl Powell couldn’t give much in the way of confirmation over what went on.

Powell said: “He said something, I don’t know what exactly. I need to find out what that was and try and get to the bottom of that.

“I don’t have any evidence of what’s been said, so we’ll have to find out during the week.”

The tweaks made to the disciplinary process over the off-season may work in their favour for this incident, with Grade A offences not carrying any match suspensions and Grade B possibly only resulting in a fine.

As is the case with Championship fixtures, any suspensions handed out on Thursday won’t apply until the following week – meaning a one-match ban would rule McGuire out of the Super League opener at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Thursday week.

Having worked to confirm Gil Dudson’s availability for the Leeds game, after he was handed a three-match ban in Catalans’ final game of last season, the Wales international will miss the start of the new season.

It was successfully argued that Dudson, who broke his hand against Leigh, would have been selected for Wales’ World Cup squad if not for the three-match ban.

That means that Wales’ three group games have counted towards Dudson’s suspension for his red card in the Dragons’ play-off defeat to Leeds.

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Sezer awaits disciplinary verdict

Also facing a wait over his eligibility for that match is Leeds’ half-back Sezer.

Sezer was sin-binned in Leeds’ pre-season defeat at Hull KR along with Robins’ full-back Lachlan Coote, although based on footage shared on social media a ban would seem unlikely.

Coote appeared to slip while attacking the line and that saw Sezer catch him high in the tackle, and when Sezer offered his hand in apology, Coote slapped it away causing several other players to become involved.

Thanks to @ArifAhmedITV for allowing me to post this clip. This is the incident that saw Aidan Sezer and Lachlan Coote sin binned during Hull KR’s win over Leeds Rhinos. pic.twitter.com/U5DgOcNB7w

— Matthew Shaw (@M_Shaw1) February 6, 2023