can't even tell Mossop apart from Dudson.........

rlhttp://www.therfl.co.uk/the-rfl/disciplinaryrl

and Hansen.........cleared......

What a total joke! Grade B for Westwood?

The charge should be brought under

[i"15.1(b)
When tackling or attempting to tackle makes contact with the head or neck of an opponent.

D-F Intentional – clenched fist – intent to make contact with head"[/i

AND the friendly international against Italy counts?

Hansen was cleared because the Cannon Ball tackle isn't illegal (yet) in SL; whereas in the NRL it is a banned tackling technique that carries a max 8 games ban

As for Bennie Westwood; wasn't pretty but what happens on the pitch, stays on the pitch.......Blake Greene didn't complain

Genuine question, what tackling description would be labelled a canonball? As the description of hansens tackle review is hip/lower back? Would that be covered by the nrls canonball term?

Yes.....the term is used to define any leg tackle from the side when a player is already held (momentum stopped) in the standing position......

The technique is banned in the NRL because of the potential career threatening injury risk from knee or ankle (aka Ratchford's injury) ligament damage and the RFL are looking at banning here also in 2014

Hansen isn't a dirty player and am sure it wasn't malicious

So when did the hip/lower back become part of the leg?

So why the discussion, moaning and groaning? Some people, including Tony Smith, need to read the rule book and not criticise the referee!

I think you need to look the definition of leg, side and momentum.

Hansen hit the hip/lower back from behind and Ratchford was still attempting to push forward (tackle was not complete). In no way was it a cannonball tackle, hence why he was cleared.

An astonishingly good question, which our friends from Warrington have no answer to.

A Wolf whinged to me this morning that it was a bad tackle and Hansen should have been sent off.

They need to stop clutching at straws, admit they were well beaten and get over it.

Think Ben will get two for this as already had a match ban for fighting earlier in the season. If he does pick up two then he shouldn't be allowed to join the squad at all.

Regarding the Westwood incident, it's clear to see that the disciplinary have decided to punish Westwood without actually punishing either him or more importantly England. However, what this has done is perpetuate the idea that most fans already held that the RFL is bent and not fit to organise a proverbial in a brewery.

More transparency needed. Viva la revolucion.

I see no reason to affect Englands World Cup chances. He should be banned for the start of next season.

I actually like Ben Westwood. Would have quite fancied him for Wigan at one stage. But what he did has absolutely no justification. He should have got 4 or 5 games for it. If only to send the message out - don't ruin the GF in future - because if the ref had seen it he risked going off and 12 against 13 is never a good game.

Bans picked up during domestic games shouldn't count towards international matches, and certainly not for friendlies. It was a farce last year when James Graham could use nearly half of his 12 match ban up using the pointless international series and Canterbury friendlies. Danny McGuire is allowed to use Leeds' boxing day friendly as the one match he picked up for the chicken wing in our SF.

I quite like a suggestion I saw on Twitter yesterday, where any ban a player picks up should include the next fixture against the team the offence was committed against.

Iv heard the suggestion of that before. In theory the next time we played Leeds no Maguire and no Westwood against Wolves.

Team disadvantaged by foul play gets the benefit.

Think the only tweak you would need is in semi finals and the like. Westwood fouls a leeds player in the semis knowing that the ban wont count in the final for example. For those situations you may want to ban them for both the next game and the next time against the disadvantaged team.

Moot point right now though, RFL have got bigger problems.

Far too complicated, which means that the RFL will probably adopt it.l At the moment it's about right. I'm sure Wigan will have had players in the past who have served bans in friendly games. Whatever the system is it won't be perfect.