Good decision.Any ban should really only count in the club game IMO so just missing a warm up game does not affect the England team and rightly so.

Looks like it's free for all then. Half backs watch out next season...

fair game to go around belting people then?
well done RFL, be interesting to see what action they take against players from other clubs using the same "tactics" next year.

Quote: meast "fair game to go around belting people then? well done RFL, be interesting to see what action they take against players from other clubs using the same "tactics" next year.'" If its off the ball and not on DVD - then it already is. See why I quit as a pro official here: wp.me/p3tJBX-6E

Quote: meast "fair game to go around belting people then? well done RFL, be interesting to see what action they take against players from other clubs using the same "tactics" next year.'" If its off the ball and not on DVD - then it already is. See why I quit as a pro official here: wp.me/p3tJBX-6E

You're playing russian roulette with the officials.

I'm not happy with westwoods actions on a moral level, it doesn't matter whether he does it against australia. It was a cheap shot.

The disciplinary is a joke. Seemingly you would have to take a sledgehammer to someone to incur more than 1/2 games.

Did he hit him with the sledgehammer repeatedly? No just once, knocked him clean out.
Was he involved in the tackle? yes

Ok, careless, involved in the tackle, give him one game and a bag of sweets.

The disciplinary needs to actually discipline players for foul play. Cheap shot in super league grand final f*cking joke[/i.

You come across as someone who thinks everyone is against westwood and warrington. No one wants westwood banned for 149 matches. They want him correctly banned according to the RFL's own guidelines.

Can anyone explain to me why this isn't a grade d-f?

Was he making a tackle? yes
was his fist clenched? yes
intentional? yes
made a punch? yes

By their own guidelines it's a grade d-f.

how do you know it was intentional? apparently know one has access to the thoughts of harrison hansen, and we couldn't possibly assume he was intending to injure ratch, but with westwood, yep, we know exactly what HIS intention was.

Not at all. You obviously cannot detect sarcasm very well. Ben Westwood has been charged and banned. That's the end of that. My view is that he deserved more and shouldn't be banned for a friendly, it should be Super League.

RL fans are pretty damn two faced when it comes to the disciplinary. They want it only to suit their own agendas and their own teams but when similar happens to another team, everyone is in uproar.

If the same thing happened with Ryan Bailey or Carl Ablett for instance, would you be in as much uproar about the disciplinary system as you are with Ben Westwood? Actually, you don't need to answer that because I already know you wouldn't.

Their justification is clearly stated as:

Rule: 15.1(a) (Kick, trips strikes another player) – Punching (which I assume is "minor one on one" as it was a single rather than repeated punch) - hence its a Grade B offence.

It wasn't a tackle that make contact with the head as it was a clear punch, seperate from the act of the tackle being made, and is therefore being treated as such.

As you know and what has happened time and time again, it all depends on who you play for.

Saw it on the Sky Sports banner last night and my immediate reaction was 'you have got to be f****** joking', this shows the RFL up for the spineless idiots they are. How can they justify a one match ban in ANY circumstance for such an act of cowardice and thuggery, never mind one that will be covered by a meaningless match against a pub side.

This was a blatant punch against a defenseless player in our showpiece event watched by hundreds of thousands of RL and other sports fans worldwide, what message does it send out to the kids in our sport.

Shame on the RFL for not treating this for what it actually was.

This is what Westwood said to the disciplinary... it was a big occasion being the Grand Final. The atmosphere was intense with arms and legs everywhere. The player states that he received an elbow which he states was not deliberate from his opponent. The player then wanted to let him know he was there and went in hard but not deliberately. The player states was devastated when he saw on the screen the replays where he had caught his opponent as he never intended to do anything deliberate to hurt his opponent.'"

I thought the video-ref can advise the ref on a card for dirty play. They can in the SH.

According to Cummings, no he can't.