Blake Austin calls out Leeds Rhinos for treatment of players

Austin called out the club in a lengthy post on his Instagram page. Austin referred to the departure of Rhinos forward Zane Tetevano without naming him specifically. He believes that the behavior of the Rhinos is not acceptable for a club of its size. Tetevano has since returned to the NRL, currently representing the Canterbury Bulldogs.

Austin calls out Leeds Rhinos for their treatment of a teammate

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Tetevano suffered a serious medical condition during his time at Leeds. He suffered a stroke on the training pitch and later required heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart. Austin has now revealed that members of the Rhinos squad were unhappy with the support Tetevano was given by the club,

“I think one of our overseas signings has suffered a really traumatic, life-threatening medical episode. I think as a playing group we were pretty upset with the way it was handled. They didn’t give him full support, and I say full support, I guess you could say they gave him 50% support. I guess you can piece together what that means.

“But there was a real, you know, there was a real line from the club that they were under no obligation to help him and they tried to sell it like he was lucky they helped him at all. It was hard to take as a playgroup.

“We didn’t get a lot of support from the coaches in that regard either, so it was really disappointing. We could have done more as a playing group in the end, but we certainly voiced our concerns and as a group we were pretty upset with the way it was handled.”

The issues go beyond financial support

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Austin expressed his disappointment with how Tetevano was treated in the final year of his contract. However, he also revealed that the problems at Leeds Rhinos run deeper than just financial backing. Austin also highlighted issues with how players’ families are treated.

“We felt that this guy was at the end of a three-year contract, an overseas guy, and for the club to tell us they don’t have an obligation to help him fully, as I say fully because they helped him, but the issues that he faced we wish we had so he would have gotten more support. So that was another thing that was pretty hard to take.”

“Look, Leeds are a very big club, but are they known for going out of their way to look after the players?

“And obviously financially that’s the first thing you’re going to think about, but for such a big and powerful club there’s certainly an opportunity for them to be a lot more lenient and look after their players in better ways. It’s not just money, there are many other ways. How they treat the boys on game days, where the families stay, things like that.”