RFL to increase punishment for St Helens antics

Good to see this finally happening and I just hope they continue to carry it out and not just throw a few heavy bans around in the first couple of weeks. St Helens will be gutted, emergency meeting tonight at the Bike Shed. Better take those 'snap the pole' posters down.

Long overdue this. My only worry is that they'll invent some new moves. The crocodile death roll for example.

Karma

They have been getting away with it for years.

I am personally sickened by what i witnessed on TV last night.

I had to cover my wife's eyes for fear of Soliola causing distress.

In the years gone by, i enjoyed the brutality of the sport and list Kelvin Skerrett as my favorite player.

However as a modern RL fan and general knicker wetter, i am now outraged that players from my teams main rivals, occasionally partake the rough stuff.

John Wilkin should be banned for 20 games and Soliola should be deported.

Worst of all, Micheal Monaghan should be disgusted at his behavior. By getting up and playing on, he has justified the thuggish behavior that we fans are mortified about.

I completely agree with the level headed comments from Stevo that it should have been a straight red. I am even happier that he continued to chunder on about it for about 20 minutes after it had happened. If only we fans could join him in spouting mass hysteria for weeks, nay, months on end about how tough the "toughest sport in the word" has become.

No way will my kids get involved in this thuggish game. Nope, instead i will make them play football where they will be free to cheat, spit, roll on the floor and racially abuse the opposition players.

At least the odd high tackle wont make me have nightmares

Got to say I do enjoy a good rough tackle and hate the fact the shoulder charge is banned. However that first high shot last night should have been a red card. If a referee can't see that contact then he shouldn't be in the job.

The Wilkin one was over the shoulder and the Turner one wasn't that bad but was a penalty.

I think player safety has to be paramount and I feel the RFL are putting the quality of the game above that. If Saints had gone down to 12 that game would have been different IMO. Probably would have been a closer game!!!

How Matty Bowen got away with his high shot last week has baffled many, regardless of where the first slight touch might have been it was a high, late shot that was jumped in to by Bowen. A number of years ago Makali Aizue was sent off at Wakefield for a horrible tackle and banned for a few games for something that was more instinctive than Bowen's attempt.

The RFL have set their stall out now and I hate to think of what our game could descend in to when players careers are on the line later in the season.

Lame

But funny!