Quote: tromso "Most spear tackles are from a tackle round the hips/thighs, followed by lifting. If you look at the tackle closely, you can see that Ferres's arms are round Lomax's chest and Ferres would not have expected Lomax's feet to go up and head to go down (surely the metal plate in his head wouldn't be that heavy!) Having said that, when he realised what was happening, Ferres should have let Lomax down gently, so the red card was justified. It did look as if he lost his balance though, so I hope the ban won't be too harsh.'"
At the time I'm writing this, the RFL disciplinary committee website doesn't show the decision or any reasons for the punishment given, so I can't be sure, but it seems to me that they probably saw the tackle the same way as I did. 5 games seems fair to me.