SAINTS chairman Eamonn McManus has expressed his frustration at the delay in hearing the appeal against the transfer of Ben Barba's  12-match ban from the NRL to Super League.

The appeal will be heard by an independent Operational Rules Tribunal on Wednesday - the day before Saints' crunch fixtue at Leeds Rhinos.

After that Barba will be half way through the 12-match ban handed out for the off-season use of cocaine in November 2016.

St Helens Chairman Eamonn McManus stated: “We were already bemused by the protracted period prior to being granted a tribunal hearing date.

"That has now been deferred further at the unilateral request of the RFL and without, in our opinion, good or valid reason.

"By next week it will already be six Super League games since we signed Ben Barba under the much heralded second marquee exemption ruling as proposed and recommended by the RFL itself.

"We merely legitimately seek to appeal the discretionary decision of the RFL to adopt his 12-match suspension from the NRL.

"We consider that we have an extremely strong case. However, the procedural process is proving to be inordinately long.

"That said, we now look forward to presenting our case at the Tribunal hearing now scheduled for Wednesday, in advance of our forthcoming game against Leeds.”