Even if i give Hock every benefit of the doubt there is, that he didnt mean to hit the ref, that he didnt mean to put the shoulder in, that he was bracing for impact.

He didnt put enough effort in to avoiding him. Hock has done this almost exact thing before, he knows he needs to try and avoid the ref, not just not try and hit him.

If Bailey got 4 matches for what he did, This is a worse example of that and from a player who has done it before. I can't see anything other than the top sanction.

Looking at the video footage if Hock had have continued his original path he'd have run past the ref's left side. He looks to come back into the ref's path. Throw in the dropped shoulder and it's hard not to think he just thought ''sod it, I'm going to floor the ref''. In this situation it's very rare you'd drop your shoulder for impact. You'd more likely hold out your arms and try to avoid such impact with a grab.

It's very generous of you to suggest there was any kind of thought process going on in this morons head.

My main point was people love to jump to conclusions based on insufficient evidence.

As for Hock it's certainly plausible he did it intentionally however he did look off balance. As I said earlier I would like to see his reaction afterwards before coming to my own conclusion.

Are some on here conveniently forgetting Hocks ability to step opposition players when attacking ? I'm sure he could have avoided the ref if he wanted to.

What he said. ^

Whilst I think he did it deliberately. I will defend this. I don't think he did it deliberately to the ref.

I think he has gone through at pace, has missed a scoring oppertunity. His brain has boiled and in his head he's just taken it out on the next available body.

It could have been a player, a post, an elephant or a ball boy.

Unfortunatley for Hock then next body was the ref.

Some people have the capacity to think others just react. Hock fits into the react catagory and he's walloped the wrong fella.

If it was a player it would be a shoulder charge off the ball and a penalty/possible one match ban.

Only Hock could shoulder charge a ref. In keeping with the game traditions we always (rightly) penalise contact with the ref of any form.

He's have been better to continue his run and take it out on the hoardings.
Or Cantona kick the Hull Fans in the front row and line up a movie and philosophy career for when his RL career ends.

You've done well to get Hock and Philosophy Career into the same sentence 10/10

Cue the inevitable ban, Dr Koukash bemoaning the RFL's mishandling of the situation all over social media, then Mr Hock himself taking to the press to plead his innocence and say how it was another boy what made him do it.

The bloke's a car crash.

Idiot, the guy is a clown plain and simple.....but it will be the RFL's way of getting back at Koukash or something from Salford when the inevitable ban is handed out.

999,999 people out of 1,000,000 would avoid that collision, Gareth Hock is obviously the one who decides its too good an opportunity to miss !!!

7 match ban.

Seems the RFL disagreed with Marwan!

#breakingnews

Hard to disagree with the ban watching the video, the dip and attempted tackle on the ref was pretty clear...

It's clear as day he runs into the Ref on purpose. It looks like he changes his direction to do it.

Another thing that seems to get missed is the fact that Hock is 30 year's old. Not that he behaves like a 30 year-old.

This isn't an academy kid that needs a clip around the ear, this is a guy that has had more than one lifeline thrown his way and he has failed to uphold his side of the bargain every time.

If this guy is genuinely this stupid, and the evidence suggests overwhelmingly that he is, then I dread to think what he's going to do with his life after rugby. Perhaps he just needs sectioning in the interests of public safety?