That punching is a part of the game, always has been. Even in the NRL where nobody would ever punch anyone, you can see that exact player doing so within the last year and all this handwringing and screams of wont somebody think of the children are pretty silly.

Prop punches prop who struck team-mate, isnt a headline that should shock anyone who has seen a game of RL before.

(and i can only guess what those with the most extreme reaction towards Garbutts punch could think about a couple of those, especially the first one)

Nothing, but it puts all this "NRL players are angels" rubbish into perspective and shows Tamou up for the grub he's always been doesn't it?

Garbutt's got his ban and been made to make a public apology, which was just embarrassing for something we've all seen 1000 times before but I'd like to think he'd do it again TBH when the next grub wants to play the hard man. Jamie Peacock would've done exactly the same thing if he was still playing as would 1 or 2 players at most other clubs.

TBH I don't get what all the fuss is about. So someone in a hard physical contact sport punched an opposition player. I don't see why there is a big fuss. There is a video of when one of my own teams players knocked out a player from the Queensland touring side in the 80s and that is revered by Hull KR Fans.

That was a brutal game. Broadhurst was hard but I don't remember him going around decking people, so something must have happened earlier?

The only one they lost as well. My own side Leeds were a complete rabble when we played them, and we lost 58-2.

To true even the ref who was stood near did not do any thing( refs dont change)I was their and loved it

I don't think anyone has suggested they are angels; but it's a fact that following the NRL making a closed-fist punch an automatic red card, the incidence of striking has dramatically reduced. What you tend to get now is a bit of pushing and shoving with maybe heads together like rutting stags - but no punches thrown.

With this incident, there is no doubt a blow was delivered first by Tamou - an open-handed, clip round the ear - but a blow nonetheless; Galloway would probably have responded in kind, and it would have ended with a telling off from the ref; Garbutt escalated it quickly with a needless and totally disproportionate right hook, which sat Tamou on his backside, such was the force involved. The ref had no choice but to send him off and he deserves a ban, not least for his own stupidity.

Yes but how many times has someone delivered a slap and the opposition not end up striking back in some fashion? If a player does what Tamou did then 9 times out of 10 punches will follow. People say he was getting niggle off Galloway in the tackle but it wasn't anything that you don't see in dozens and dozens of tackles in any match and if everyone got up and did what Tamou did after a bit of facials on the floor then they'd be no players left on the field before the 80 mins was up. Not saying Garbutt doesn't deserve his punishment btw, I think a red card and 2 games after an EGP is a fair result.

The Australians have shown themselves in the WCS to be a brutal species of mankind. Mitchell Garbutt is an Australian, and was behaving like a typical Australian does on a weekend.

Nevertheless we must acknowledge that their brutality is part of what makes Australians, along with New Zealanders, the most powerful and accomplished rugby league players the world has ever seen.

I couldn't possibly say how many times that happens - all I know is that I watch most NRL games most weekends and in the past two seasons, punching has virtually disappeared from the game; granted, there are still many forms of housery that continue unabated, not least the forearm in the face stuff that Galloway used on Tamou. I would imagine in this instance, without Garbutt's intervention, Galloway would have given Tamou a similarly girly slap round the noggin, and the match would have continued.

And we agree about the punishment - it seems fair.

Are you 8 years old?

Agreed, and the point is emphasised by Frank Pritchard jabbing Adam Milner in the nose with the palm of his hand.

It's interesting to see the Leeds mob out in force on the forum trying to bully anyone who has an opinion which is opposed to the Rhinos

How are people getting "bullied"?

Another example of you and your ilk spouting ridiculous hyperbole rather than arguing a point. Two things, firstly if you're defending hitting someone in the face as acceptable just because you don't have a clenched fist then your earlier arguments are certainly weakened. An attack to the face is an attack to the face, not acceptable at all.

Secondly, I think you'll find that all the 'Leeds mob' has tried to do is bring some semblance of reason to a discussion that was rammed with ridiculously OTT statements. Nobody has said that what Garbutt did was OK, I don't think anybody has even complained about him getting a ban. What has been said is that it wasn't from the side; it wasn't a sucker punch; it wasn't an assault; it wasn't in any way shape or form comparable to the Ben Flower incident; it wasn't unprovoked; and it wasn't anything you're not likely to see at least another half dozen times this season.

Is talking reason now 'bullying' in the same way that a prop punching another prop is now 'thuggery and assault'?

There is a world of difference in pushing someone in the face (because you are unhappy with something that has gone on in a tackle) and full on punching a bloke in the face when they are not expecting it..

I don't think anyone has condoned what Tamou did when hi got up from being tackled but, the reaction of the Leeds fans is utterly ridiculous and trying to justify, in any way, what Garbutt did is just wrong.

Did Gallagher really need some help, because he looks more than capable of looking after himself.