Catalan Dragons fullback Clint Greenshields was on Wednesday counting the cost of his Twitter attack on a referee.

The 30-year-old Australian was last week fined 2,000 euros ($A2,574) and suspended for three days by his Super League club for calling referee Ben Thaler “retarded” on his Twitter account during the Dragons’ recent defeat at Leeds.

And today he was handed an additional fine of 1,000 euros ($A1,287), by the Rugby Football League, 500 euros ($A644) of which is suspended until the end of 2013, after being found guilty of breaching their respect policy and rules relating to improper conduct and criticism of match officials.

“The player’s subsequent apology and sanctions imposed on him by his club were taken into consideration by the RFL compliance department,” a spokesman said.

Greenshields, who has also been warned about his future behaviour, has 14 days in which to appeal against the decision but is likely to accept his punishment.