Just beyond ridiculous now.
Yeah our discipline has bee shocking but our players are doing nothing that other players aren't doing (barring Pele ) and we're getting somebody banned every single week whereas other teams are getting nothing.
We're just stuck in a cycle so far of getting 1 player back from suspension and losing another straight away.

Think I'd ho with

Hoy
Mcintosh
Carlos
Sutcliffe
Martin
Smith
Brown
Ese'ese
Houghton
Bullock
Okunbor
Staveley
Lane

Pele
Brown
Sao
Balmforth

If Houghton is out bring in Charles or Litten amd move Brown to hooker.

I wonder if the RFL consider the well-being of the players when they're handing out nearly month long bans for simply clashing heads with an opponent.

its the shirt isn't it? Hurrell got one game ban after last week and wasn't even penalised on the pitch! seems we are the RFLs' team to be made an example of each week!

Percival direct shoulder contact to the head and he gets 2 games an accidental head clash gets 3….. the game has well and truly lost the plot.

It was mentioned above, but the inconsistency with punishments is ridiculous, and has to be damaging to the players getting banned. If a player is out of contract at the end of this season and gets 3-4 games for an accidental clash of heads, that could determine whether he gets a contract or not. They are playing jeopardy with the mental and financial well being of the players. No way on earth did Ashworth deserve a ban for that tackle.

They are strangling the game and it's going to get worse.

The game is a complete joke now with the way the MRP and Cullen hand out totally disproportionate bans.

How Ashworth gets a ban is laughable, but to then see Percival only getting 2 for his cleaner record yet I would argue a worse offence (and done with a degree of intent) just makes it an even bigger joke. So you can take someone out using your shoulder and making direct contact with the head and get 2 games or get 3 games for a totally accidental head clash???

A full on contact sport like rugby league you will always run the risk of accidental head clashes and banning players for that isn't the answer. Accidental head clashes shouldn't be given such a draconian charge if any at all, but to give a Grade D is almost up there with an intentional head butt which just shows the disparity in the thinking and understanding of the game.

The RFL and the MRP are just making a complete mockery of the sport. The level of incompetence within the RFL is mind blowing as its not just the huge difference between the view/decisions made by the officials & video ref's in games to the view/decisions of the MRP but the glaring inconsistencies in the decisions and the punishments handed out with very little transparency of the findings.

Its almost as if with the number of bans and charges handed out after each round the MRP are effectively saying the on field officials are not up to standard.

I really hope AP and TS fight the RFL and MRP on this.

As for the RFL talking about its all for player welfare well that's just an excuse they are hiding their incompetence behind as the way the are dishing out bans and fines is not looking after player welfare, far from it. They are also the reason why the game is struggling in this Country and no amount of work by IMG or money thrown in will change the fact that the RFL are erroding the foundations of the sport from within. Until the game accepts that the RFL are the biggest problem and a total overhaul of how the sport is governed in undertaken the game here will continue to slide in to oblivion.

Maybe there's mileage in Mr Beaumonts rant about pulling away from SL. He has a lot to say in wednesday's council meeting about how the game is run. Many folk fire jibes at him but, he has massive passion for the game, and will not watch the game be driven into the ground. Like him or hate him, at least he's standing up to these farcical clowns at the RFL who are running/ruining the game.

Think tweaked hamstrings nowadays are 3 week jobs so we wont see Walker or Houghton.
used to be a fan of Tuimavave but regretfully he has had his day now as a centre.
Still would try him in the second row as im convinced he would make more metres ball in hand than the players we have there now.
Still missing some zip at 6 so Hoy to six and Brown to nine for me.
If Tindall is fit i would play Litten at full back
No doubt the enigma around Balmorth will continue

I agree with Cokey
The money is in S/L and its about time they got together with the NRL and stick two fingers up to the RFL
Referees get some decisions wrong but the amount of ban reversals and reduction in games after appeal shows the MRP are not fit for purpose.
The club surely have to appeal the Ashworth ban.
For me the RFL should step in on this one which im certain they did with the Nu Brown incident rather than cause further embarrassment for the game.

Have to say I agree with both posts.

The MRP under Cullens stewardship is appalling and doing nothing other than destroying the fabric of the sport.
The warning signs have been there for long enough and way before the Nu Brown fiasco. The grade of charge and ban imposed on Ashworth is just another on the long list of embarrassing decisions by the panel.

Sadly the RFL haven’t got the brains or guts to put a stop to the controversy that reign’s supreme.

Hopefully the players will continue to make a stand to get things changed for the good of the game and real player welfare.

Not sure all the club owners will make a stand as there are 2 clubs that seem to fare well in terms of the MRP but hopefully a majority will.

The club should definitely appeal this. There so much contention and the rule is open to interpretation so I don't see how an appeal could be deemed frivolous.

Your the most penalised team and you've had the most players suspended apparently, I wonder if Smith actually took the new tackle rules seriously during preseason and worked on new tackling techniques, because looking from the outside it wouldn't appear so.
Thankfully the MRP got the Brown decision right and you can argue the Ashworths ban is harsh, but the reality is that FC players are still putting themselves in these positions when other teams seem to have got to grips with it a lot better.