EACH week, Super League fans await the Disciplinary Match Review Panel with baited breath to see if any of their players will be banned for the week/weeks after.
One man who has been stung by the Match Review Panel in the past 18 months is Castleford Tigers forward Liam Watts.
Only just returning from his third ban in the 2023 Super League season, Watts has been handed a two-match ban following a Grade C Dangerous Contact charge during the Tigers’ 22-0 loss to St Helens at the weekend.
The minutes state: “Law 15.1 (i) 9 Dangerous Contact – Defender uses any part of their body forcefully to twist, bend or otherwise apply pressure to the limb or limbs of an opposing player in a way that involves an unacceptable risk of injury to that player. Grade C.”
It means now that Watts has been banned for the tenth time in 18 months, racking up one of the longest charge sheets in recent Super League history.
It remains to be seen whether the Castleford club will appeal the charge, but it does mean that Watts will miss Castleford’s home game against the Leigh Leopards and then the Tigers’ away fixture against Hull FC the week after.
