Quote: The Reaper "Well the thing is they are trying to get players to drop their tackle height, so that there's much less margin for error and it's less likely to hit the head even if they fall. It's no good saying there's nothing he can do, because there absolutely is. He can tackle lower in the first instance. It makes sense as a goal from the RFL, the problem is the MRP is a complete liability and a lottery and isn't working. I understand they're trying to "deter" players from tackling high, but the system of handing out big bans is just stupid. Players aren't doing it on purpose, so deterrence isn't what's needed. You make it against the rules and punishable by a penalty/yellow card/red card on the day and players will stop doing it, but it's going to take time for them to adjust to not do something they've been trained to do for 10 years. The retrospective bans aren't needed at all, they're just ruining the game'"
Whilst I understand your points, this wasn't a high tackle. Tackle height in this instance isn't a factor. The Wire player falls into Keighran's shoulder and is very low when contact is made. In fact if you look where his hands are at the moment of impact they would be around the waist of a player who wasn't falling.
I'm not saying that this wasn't a ban in the current system but I think it's equally fair to hold the opinion that there was little that Keighran could legitimately do to stop this happening. Put it this way; I'd say that the vast majority of front on tackles would have the defending player with a similar body position to Keighran's. The only difference being that usually the attacking player isn't falling as quickly as in this example.
The disciplinary is the problem here. An almost identical tackle by Moylan on Field recently had the falling as mitigation and no ban was given. Fast forward a few weeks and the falling is no longer mitigation. In addition how many times recently have you heard the on field ref explain a yellow by saying it would have been a red as it was forceful and direct contact to the head but the fact that the player was falling means that it's a yellow. Then the same factors at play in this instance is a direct red and a 3 game ban including a final! There's just no consistency.