That's a pretty weighty ban.

To be honest from a justice point of view it seems fair.

From a PR point of view it seems short sighted by a few days.

I think it's pretty harsh IMHO. It's effectively 11 game ban. I thought 8 match would have been about right.

The RFL have now set the marker for futre bans.

Only for players punching unconscious people on the ground, which I've never seen before and doubt I will again.

They have not set a marker for future bans . only for that type of offence of which in nearly 50 years of watching R.L i have rarley seen the like .only ones that i can remember that come near are Newtons , Boyd and Cassidy. Flower as i understand it will be allowed to train and will hopefully get over this and move on as should everyone else . Regarding the Saints statement , it is pretty clear what it is saying without stating the obvious and getting the club in trouble . Everyone in the game has a certain responsability towards the game and Wigan and Wane in particular need to realise that . For someone such as Wane who has brought talented youngsters through and trophies to the club he very much at times comes through as that loud mouth Sunday morning amateur coach who has never any praise for the opposition (sarcastic or thinly veilled apart) and has the worlds against us syndrome . Well perhaps the world is against them but that is down to his attitude and some of Wigans close to the line if not over it tactics in recent years

The next time the is a punch thrown, elbow or shocker of a high shot, every fan, club and coach will be calling for x amount of month ban (especially Wigan fans).

The Wigan fans have started already, some wanted a 4 match ban for Lance.

Looking at the Flower ban I think he's got off a bit lightly, the disciplinary don,t seem to have covered the pre and post event, this is where Flower started it all hitting the head of Lance from behind when he wasn,t looking before Lance retaliated later. There was also a ground level suspicious forearm smash on Wellens face in retaliation of Wellens running in.
It seems as though the ban is just for the final "kill" punch and nothing else.

Eamonn McManus has behaved with a lot more dignity and understanding of Rugby League than all the press and news media put together. Thank heavens for that.

Of course it won't be enough for the hang and flog em brigade, many of whom have treated us to new depths of asininity on here.

I'm only glad that he didn't injure Hohai. I mean a life ban for that? Where on earth do you go if he'd say, broken an eye socket? On no wait punching a guy without provocation, who is defenceless on the ground early in a GF...I'm getting a strong sense of deja vu

I think it is time to draw a line under the affair and move on, looking forward to Good Friday already.

I think it's pretty much spot on. Calling it a '6 month' ban gives it a tone of severity which will help to satisfy the press and the mob, but in reality it's an 11 game ban, which is what I thought it should be (I was in favour of a 10-12 game ban). I don't think they've made a rod for their own back. This was a rare incident and has been given a rare punishment - comparable to Newton's ban for his antics in 2005 - and I don't think it will have any bearing on the day-to-day policing of more 'conventional' foul play. Yes, there will be amoebas with Twitter accounts who will vent their misspelled disapproval whenever a moderate ban is dished out for a punch or high tackle, but that's the world we live in.

We can draw a line under Ben Flower the individual but I think there will be a RFL review on possibly the Wigan club itself on its practices and how Mr Wane has coerced certain individuals to perform uncontrolled agressions. Mc Manus touched on the subject in his statement and I think this is what he was referencing to but structured to all clubs via the RFL.

Question for you - do you think that Shaun Wane is the only coach to preach 'uncontrolled aggression' (or maybe he's the only one stupid enough to get filmed doing so)?

Strange how Wigan's 'uncontrolled aggression' hasn't been picked up by refs before Saturday, Flower being the first red card of the season. If Masoe had connected with Gelling's head in the first set, as was his intention, we might be discussing Saints 'uncontrolled aggression instead. Glass houses my friend.

a) if Masoe had connected with gellings head, it would of been exactly the same as every tackle as SOL did on Masoe (I don't know what Masoe did to hack SOL off but he did a fantastic job of frustrating him out of the game imo) - but this is my biggest pet hate about rugby fans - if your player did something illegal than this thing that actually happened would be okay - well Masoe didn't connect (unlike SOL did on several occasions without being penalised.)

b) how do you know it was Masoes intention? Seems to me Saints plan was to rattle the cage knowing Wigan would overstep the mark and it would throw them off the game plan. I don't think it was ever our intention to decapitate anyone, and even if it was, Gelling would not of been our target!

C) no, let's not be naive, I'm sure there are other coaches who try and be motivators in that way. However, Wane has been the most vocal and open about it. He was the first person I've ever known to associate the word "hate" towards a saints wigan Derby. I don't hate wigan, I always thought we were above that. By taking it to that level trouble is always going to start.

McManus phrased it well. It needs looking at by all clubs at all levels. Player safety is paramount and it's quite clear where the line is.

Wigan are clearly the worst at this in SL however. They devised most of the awful techniques like attacking the standing leg knee joint under Maguire and it's continued under Wane. It won't take much for Wigan to fix and go back to succeeding legally. I think Leneghan can see this now, I'll bet he massively regrets the Wigan documentary and it's content and I'll bet he's had a word with Wane about how they go about things.

I thought at the time that the doco could come back to haunt them when a coach is basically saying you have a free reign to cause damage