This is probably the straw that broke the Camels back.
The RFL have been a mess for a while, and GH has been one of theirs strongest supporters, not any more.

Somebody told me the senior management at redhall are very highly paid with decent pensions. You may ask whats that to do with the Hardaker situation . I may well reply that if you pay high salaries and wages you should expect efficiency and professional expertise .

Zak's just served a 5 match ban after he admitted an offence of homophobic abuse.

He's been back less than a month and he's blowing a kiss at an opponent and then shouting something at him, something which many people have argued could be another homophobic comment.

The RFL haven't created this mess, Daft Zak has.

I definitely think the RFL has made mistakes after the incident, but so has Zak and so have Leeds. Zak's one of the daft twitter lads who are asking for trouble by being so accessible. Zak could have made a statement saying he didn't call him a puff and saying what he did say. He never did that. He seemed to try and brush it under the carpet and said him and Flanagan laughed about it after the game.

Leeds haven't said that he never made the comment, they are just complaining about the process and seem to be hoping that a lack of any proof will mean he gets off.

IMO Zak's reputation is the same as it was. He's just added another incident in his rap sheet.

I don't think anyone comes out of this with credit.

or is it high salaries indicates a 'managerial/ director role in the normal world. The old adage of people who cant get promoted comes to mind!!!!

Gary Hetherington is one of the people I respect most in RL. I think he's worked from nothing to earn his position as one of the most powerful people in the game. I think his achievements at Sheffield and Leeds put him up as a RL great. I think he's earned a lot of money from RL, I think he's earned every single penny of it.

But IMO Gary has still screwed up as well over this incident. It's easier to hammer the RFL because they are generally faceless backroom men and do work no one sees. The RFL organised a great World Cup that probably shocked most people, but that credits faded to nothing already.

I think RL is utterly screwed if there's this much fighting over something as stupid as this.

If this had happened in football I can understand the pressure. In football gay rights campaigners would have been picketing Wembley to demand action because it has the profile. But I doubt anyone in the gay rights lobby even cares about this nonsense. We're doing all this nonsense ourselves.

The RFL did one great thing during the WC, that was to put Sally Bolton in charge and mostly leave it to her. They deserve credit for that, and had it been rubbish they would take the blame so they should rightly take the plaudits

However they promptly lost her, made no headway at all in capitalizing on it, made a complete clusterfsk of any legacy, managed to go in to the WC with absolutely terrible press and completely split game, have forced through a controversial and unpopular change (not necessarily a bad thing) then mortgaged the future on a tv deal which isnt that great. They have alienated huge parts of the game.

Wigan have publicly voiced displeasure, Salford barely have day when not taking a shot at the RFL, Hull FC and Hull KR have been critical aswell. This isnt to say the were necessarily wrong on those (though i believe they largely are) they simply arent leading. Every little thing they are doing is blowing up in their faces because they have created and angry and fractured game who simply don't respect them.

I honestly would not be surprised if after a few years of this new structure, if it appears to be a failure, we dont see another breakaway. If the RFL alienate Leeds, there is really on St Helens as an ally. There is almost a competition to be made out of clubs who have publicly stated their opposition to either the #RFLnewera or the RFL themselves.

You only need to look at the farce of the points deductions for Batley & Doncaster to see how well run the RFL is.

Is it any worse than what is, and has been, posted about other players, clubs and referees? Including by Leeds fans up in arms about those who are posting stuff about Zak and Leeds!
This has come about because a silly arrogant boy hasn't the ability to think about his actions. The press was all over the incident because, like it or not, we DO live in an age of keyboard warriors. This meant the RFL had to be seen to address it. They were left with little choice - either upset Leeds or upset everyone else. Zak, instead of sensibly keeping his head down couldn't resist the opportunity to log onto twitter and couldn't control his anger (seems to be a pattern here). The hullabaloo that followed meant the club had to step forward and make a statement.
the blame is squarely at societies door whichever way you look at it.

No, the RFL had to be seen to address it cos its wrong FFS!!!!!!!!!

Pretty much agree with this, barring the twitter stuff which I haven't read so can't comment on.

I don't think GH is at loggerheads with the RFL to the extent some suppose. Really, all he's claimed (at least from what I've read) is that he thinks the enquiry process is flawed. Which, depending on the outcome of the investigation, has cut the club just enough slack not to have to sack Hardaker.

That's one thing i can't understand is being on twitter and giving peasants the chance to message abuse at you. Maybe when you're older, more level headed and life experienced and less likely to get wound up but someone like hardaker would probably be better if the club put an arm round him and took him off twitter.

Ignorance is bliss.

They didn't have to do anything if no report was made by the appropriate parties. The only reason it's public is because they made it public before any charge was made. They jumped the gun, took it upon themselves and now it's a right mess.

They're a set of incompetent idiots. This whole fiasco is basically the smoking gun for how bent the RFL is. Funnoy how the people who normally claim that about the RFL, rather than 'I told you so'' it's all about leeds and getting hardaker banned. Agendas.

It is amazing how many people (conveniently the ones who think he did say puff) are now defending the RFL as some sort of honest, shiny beacon of integrity who are doing a stellar and correct investigation into the issue.

They'll save the competition millions in sponsorship from all the lucrative sponsors that would have pulled out had hardaker not been hung drawn and quartered.