I have not looked forward to the opening games of a season so much for a long time. I think its great that we have three of the big teams up first as it will demonstrate how competitive we are going to be. We need to win at least one game but hopefully will be competitive in all three

Obviously if you break someone's face Marty, that would be a sufficient points penalty to result in a ban.

Not a bad shout that though I'd swap Tet and Smith and Briscoe and sutcliffe. See if Dwyers asked to do 80 with Leeming jumping in where he can.

Said it before RE bans but if some of the stuff that bans are being handed out were given reds on game day there would be uproar! And more than likely fewer bans as well for obvious reasons.

Looking forward to Saturday but got this awful feeling Powell will have them fired up and could well see them throw everything at us early on to get a couple of scores ahead. I think I'm mentally scared from seeing Cas tear us apart on the edges so often in recent times!!

RE Austin, apparently all the promo material was all done around him playing his old club then the news of the ban dropped. Seems we always find a way to shoot ourselves in the foot even in new markets!!

Thankfully, my memories of Cas not being able to do it when it actually mattered are much stronger

Think both sides should be fired up, we owe them one for them winning winning last year with a try that never was!

This is a really good match up for Round 1. You could say Austin has been dumb getting himself banned from a friendly. I still think the rules as they stand are a bit daft. C4 premiere and one of the better players unavailable through a something-and-nothing incident in a friendly 2 weeks ago.

But i know, you know, we all know if you hit a half back off the ball you run the risk of a ban. Austin hit Gale off the ball, admittedly soft but why run the risk?

It isnt the game hurting itself, its not a conspiracy, its not anti-Leeds its purely dumb play by Austin. We have to start learning.

I agree the defensive player has responsibility here. I agree there is no anti-Leeds conspiracy. Don't agree the game isn't hurting itself, because the punishments too often don't fit the crime.

Like everything it's a balance isn't it? Players have responsibility but so do the rule makers. I can't be convinced that Austin missing the first SL fixture 2 weeks after a fairly innocuous incident in a friendly game is the right call. It is what it is though and we move on.

Jim i think we all agree its a ridiculous thing to get banned for but unfortunately we all know you cant do it anymore. We dont seem to be learning and if we dont start learning quickly we are going to have multiple bans again like last year.

We are hurting ourselves.

Agreed. It's a shame he's missing, but he made a silly choice in the heat of the moment. Hopefully next time he won't. Let's face it, if the RFL were really out to get Leeds they would have found a way to stitch Fusitu'a up.

Yeah, maybe a bit soft but we're straight into inconsistency territory once the panel enters the minefield of whether or not a challenge was soft. Bottom line has to be "was it late?".

Exactly. The rfl/SL just need to make sure this is done consistently though. When I saw it immediately knew he would cop a ban. Maybe given 1 game instead of 2 due to the missed game last week. Purley stupid from austin

I wonder if he did it knowing it would be a ban? Perhaps he didn’t fancy Warrington as his first competitive game?

I don’t actually believe this, just throwing it out there?

I'll be keeping an eye out for any late shots now and expecting an automatic one match ban. I suspect there is a late shot in pretty much most matches.

If it is deemed worthy of a ban, shouldn't he ( and any other culprits of a late tackle, however innocuous) have been sent off instead of sin binned?