If you think for a second that Morgan Knowles (or any other professional RL player) made the conscious decision to perform the tackle in that way you need to give your head a shake...and obviously have never played the game at any level or you would know that sometimes tackles can unintentionally go wrong.

Also, why shouldnt his previous record go for him? The lad is in his 4th season as a first team player and has no previous problems with the disciplinary panel. If he commits a further tackle like that one then yes I agree give him the 8 game,s but for a first ever offence I don't see what your problem is with 4 games.

And as for "the Cats player could have been paralysed", you could argue a similar point with a number of different tackles, yet common sense needs to prevail (again working on the assumption you have very little of this).

You hear stories about people getting punched in the head once and being killed by it, so what would you expect all players guilty of throwing a punch at another player (or even a swinging arm making direct contact with the head) to be given? After all, a blow to the head can cause death, severe brain damage or paralyse people (google it and I am sure you will see many news stories where this has happened) so what would you suggest for that? Same goes for bad technique carrying the ball...and players making contact with the head of an opponent with their elbow (although I am sure in that case Liam Watts just had bad technique and didnt deserve sending off/banning by your opinion). Speaking of Liam Watts, if you punished every bit of foul play judging it on "the worst possible outcome of what could have happened" he would probably be serving 3-5 life sentences somewhere by now for his list.

At the end of the day, MK made a mistake in the tackle and has received a 4 match ban and a red card for it. The week before, Paul McShane made a similar tackle on a Saints player (just that he landed in a different position) and was a penalty and nothing further. Both tackles "could" have paralysed the player so why isnt McShane serving an 8 match ban now? I will just find it interesting to see if all other spear tackles that are charged this year receive the same

I would agree if it was a deliberate spear tackle ramming the head and neck into the ground. If the opponent receives a severe injury I,m sure the disciplinary will go beyond the guidelines and we could be looking at something like a 6 month ban.
It looks as though the disciplinary have seen it as a mistake in execution by Knowles but the end of the day the opponent was put in precarious position and I hope the minimum 4 game ban is applied throughout the season and not a token gesture.

He deliberately lifted the leg and dropped the player, he chose to do that ergo it is deliberate, he could have changed the outcome of that but didn't. It's just like a motorists that kill or maim, they had choices to make and failed to make the right one, the wrong choice being known to kill and maim and yet they still made the wrong decision. And why don't drivers/players think more about their actions ... because they get off so lightly.
IF it was done with malice it should be a 6 month minimum ban.

So you think a shocking tackle should receive the same ban as punching an unconscious player on the floor? Bit silly if you ask me. Between 4 and 8 is right, if he'd have received any ban between that I wouldn't have any problems with it.

If you watch the tackle at normal speed there is no chance at all to change the outcome, my take on it was that he couldn't control the tackle and there was no malice to drive his head into the ground. I suspect this is what the disciplinary has seen and banned the player accordingly, an 8 game ban would be very harsh, hopefully Knowles will learn from it and change his technique.

No, where did I say that? punching an unconscious player on the floor should get you banned for 2 years and at least 6 months in prison.
4 is far too lenient, to the point of not discouraging.
@judderan "If you watch the tackle at normal speed there is no chance at all to change the outcome, my take on it was that he couldn't control the tackle and there was no malice to drive his head into the ground."
Yes he can change the outcome, and he makes zero attempt to go so. Read what I wrote again and rethink what you've written and try understand why you're wrong.