Quote Aboveusonlypie="Aboveusonlypie"I agree with your post, well argued. I find it galling in the extreme having to listen to idiots in the national media pontificate on about rugby league when they show no interest in it whatsoever unless something bad happens. A few things occur to me -
- Ben Westwood got a pat on the back and was playing for England within a month after last years' final. Ben's assault looked a lot worse because it was out in the open, but I'm not convinced that it was that much different.
- Shaun Wane must take some share of the blame. I love SW and think he is a great coach. But as he said himself he has made mistakes. In hindsight the Sky documentary was a big mistake from the club and it came back to bite us in a big way. Now SW didn't invent foul play in rugby league, so let's not exaggerate things too much, but the comments about 'hating' Saints were bad. I don't hate Saints fans, some of my best mates are Saints fans. There was no need for it.
- After the media frenzy and former players calling for year long bans etc it is absolutely vital that Wigan support Ben this evening. He mustn't be allowed to be thrown to the wolves (no pun). James Graham got 8 games after biting Billy Slater. I think this may be comparable.
- Wigan need to stand up for themselves too. Hetherington never fails to speak out when he perceives injustice against Leeds. In my view Ben knows he has cost us the GF and that in itself is worse than any ban. For example, the RFL need Wigan to participate to give the limping dog that is the World Club Challenge series any credence. A meaningless friendly with the Broncos should be treated as just that unless the RFL treat Ben with the same 'fairness' they treated the other Ben last year.
- If people want to bring the Police into sport where will that lead us? It's a complete non starter. Haven't the Police got more important things to investigate? Unsolved murders, paedophilia, tax fraud etc. I can't believe the hypocrite Jamie Peacock of all people saying if it had been done outside the ground he would be in prison!!! (Et tu Jamie...)
- A possible spin off could be that we keep Taylor to his final year instead of letting him go to Hull. That might be a good thing. Every cloud and all that...'"
I agree with this. Immediately after the event I was totally fuming because he handed the GF to Saints but now I've cooled down a bit I hope he serves his time and comes back better than ever. The extra pressure heaped on players these days through various media types can be ugly in the extreme. You would have hoped that someone like Peacock (who's thrown plenty punches in his time) would have known better.
