Quote: craigizzard "Of course it was a foul. There are different grades of intent and danger within high tackles, and in my opinion that one wasn't a straight sending off. I added the "in rep football" bit because more leeway is usually given in SoO and Test matches. But as I said, I can see the argument that it was refereeing mistake. It's just that we're acting all of a sudden like English referees are amazing when I've seen two RL matches at Wembley this year and I know which ref was worse...'"
How any one can argue that this didn't warrant a red card when the disciplinary board then subsequently gave Williams a one match suspension for intentional foul play, is beyond me! It was a straight red and the disciplinary board effectivley back that up with a decision to suspend. Had he been sent off, as he should have been, then he might have got sending off sufficient.
As for the, their is a bit more lee-way given in test matches, well tell that to Morley and Edwards, who quite rightly saw red for similar offences in test matches.
The report system is no longer fit for purpose in televised matches and ref's are able to opt out of making big decisions and we saw both Cecchin and Perenara do exactly that, for offences that lead to the disciplinary board handing out suspensions totalling 4 matches! Also, both Luke & Smith decided to drop their appeals... a wise move given that NRL allow them to treat pre-season games as part of an suspension.
As I said before, in a short series such as this then ref's need to be forced to make decisions, by removing the report system or remove the report system and use the video if they feel unsighted in respect of foul play.