ADRIAN LAM and Rohan Smith have explained their decisions to appeal the bans handed to Leigh Leopards and Leeds Rhinos stars respectively.
Leigh’s Jack Hughes (Grade B Dangerous Contact, £250 fine), Tom Amone (Grade C Head Contact, two-match ban) and Ricky Leutele (Grade B Head Contact, one-match ban) have challenged charges from Super League Round One after the Leopards didn’t have a fixture last weekend.
Meanwhile, Leeds’ Sam Lisone will be up against a Tribunal tonight with the club appealing the Grade D Head Contact charge that yielded a three-match ban.
“We’ve decided to contest the grading of Sam Lisone’s tackle. We feel it’s at the harsher end of the grading scale to say it was deemed low force,” Smith said.
“We felt in both situations that Grade D was on the harsher end but we understand where the game is going and not making contact with the head.”
Meanwhile, Lam has explained why the Leopards will be appealing the trio of charges tonight.
“The best case scenario is that all three play on Friday. There are a lot of grey areas with the RFL and the interpretations. We feel really strongly that all three cases are ones we can defend which is why we are going up tonight.
“We think it’s the right thing to do to defend our players – not just for our players but for the sport.”
Lam does believe that the slight adjustment on the Head Contact Framework – with judgement on initial contact only now – is a positive step.
“I think it’s a move in the right direction. We have had several coaches meetings about it and we’ve stood up and showed our concerns which are concerns coming from every angle.
“It has been flagged prior to this point and it’s important that we acknowledge that. We want to come up with the right solution for our players.
“Everyone understands where we want to go but it’s just how we get there and it’s about getting that balance right. It might take six weeks or six months but we will get there.”
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