There was no way in the world he was going to get banned with the WCC coming up. The RFL always go soft in the run up to big games.

If he'd done that mid season he'd have rightly been banned.

Not at all, What i am saying is he is committed him self to tackling grix but has had a brain snap when the ball has gone and he realised it but has already committed him self to it and instead of just pulling out altogether he has got it completely wrong and clotheslined him. I know thats happened to me in a game when i was younger (although i didn't clothesline him haha).

Its defiantly a ban probably 1 game with an EGP, but if the system was set up correctly i think that would have been applied. Its harsh to ban a player for a WCC for something silly like that he should serve a suspension in a super league game. I hope the RFL change the rule even for challenge cup matches.

read my post to YG.

And we all know ryan bailey wouldn't have slapped a player it would have been a swinging arm just like the other naughty players in the game.

I don't like that club bans can be used in international matches, particularly friendlies, but I think it's difficult in RL to implement bans that only count in one club competition. It would be unfair to miss out on a WCC because of one incident (though Jeff Lima did in 2011 after Wilkin's "sir, sir that man was nasty to me"icon_wink.gif, but what would happen if a player was in the middle of an 8 game ban or similar. Could you really justify a system where someone is in the middle of a long term SL ban for serious breach of discipline but could then be allowed to play in a WCC or CC final, for example?

I can’t see what all the surprise is all about in some peoples posts TBH, when I got home and watched the incident again I must say it did not look as bad as I first thought at the time, and I would have thought a yellow card sufficient punishment on the night. I’m sure the WCC also played a part in the panel’s decision too. It also strikes me there is a little hypocrisy in some post from other clubs fans who seem to want to bring back hanging whenever punishment is given to a Wigan player. My mind goes back to last year’s GF and the state of a Blake Green’s eye at the end of the game and the attitude of some people then.

A lot of posters keep saying it's set a president (I've quoted your just because it was the last one to mention it) but I don't think it does simply because the disciplinary panel have deemed it as first contact with the shoulder so any forthcoming high shots will just be classified to suit, head if they want to ban them and shoulder if they want a penalty sufficient decision.

I thought he deserved ten minutes, simply for taking out the kicker and probably a one game ban as it was high (although my guess is it wasn't malicious just a poorly executed late tackle).

As for bans, bans shouldn't be served in friendlies. Maybe a better system would that a player is banned for X games in that whichever competition the offence was commited and can't play in any game, in any competition until it has been served. Internationals would be tricky though I guess.

New(ish) poster...more through luck than judgement that Grix wasn't seriously injured, and to say it was an obstruction? Bowen was off the ground when he made contact with the head of Grix (not shoulder)

I would hope, like this one, that the video evidence is clear enough for them to spot the difference between head and shoulder



Don't disagree with any of that tbh



Agree again. Would mean the problem of having to avoid banning players due to play in the cup final doesn't arise. Any ban would be served in the next SL fixture.

Do the RFL wear cherry and white shirts ?

I heard that Nigel Wood has a pair of XXXXXXXXXXXL cherry and white y-fronts

This made me laugh and want to puke at the same time.

For those of you with twitter accounts follow @RFLReferees many decisions made explained on there (including the Bowen one) #asktheref

So to summarise the last 11 pages
Silver wood copped out
Mattie Bowen is a vicious thug who went out to hurt Grix
The RFL are all cherry and white supporters and bent.
Or
Alternatively
(Please feel free to burn me at the stake for this)
A professional REF and the Independent panel came to similar decisions based on evidence.