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Especially for Cas in recent years

I just had a quick peek at the disciplinary thread when Morgan Knowles was cleared of twisting the arm of Chris Atkin to see if you posted that Knowles had been completly vindicated on appeal. No, instead you typed "I honestly would not mind if some newshound actually reported and screened on national TV the ongoings of the last week with the manipulation of the Bateman ban and this total abhorrent saga concerning Knowles, and show the country just what a complete shambles this game is in". Well, colour me surprised.

I think some fans need to be careful before celebrating a victory here. We have seen Saints win certain appeals which may be a victory on technical grounds but reasonable people don't agree with them. These are unorthodox tackles, genuinely nobody else in SL seems to be tackling regularly like this, they are often reckless and whilst he may win the odd case because of a disagreement about point of contact being a few centimetres here and there, these are risky tackles. I think phiggins is right, the focus here should be about him improving his tackle technique rather than celebrating techonal 'wins'.

Would have been nicer for Leigh's statement on Zak Hardaker's off-field "issues" to have been as wordy as the one on this.

Think this is worth sharing. It's not easy to do this, but it can be done. You need a patient investor and a good front-office team, but it can be done.

It might be no score, but I’m quite enjoying it. It’s not boring like a one-sided hammering might have been.

Oddly enough, there was part of Wilkin's rant that I agreed with (of a fashion). While the challenge itself was ultimately cleared, he gave the referee a decision to make, and Saints players something to stoke up some anger about. And it had us a man down for 10 minutes in a close game. It will happen again, unless he can complete the tackle with his arms actually wrapped around the attacker's legs.

As with most changes to the rules, it got used in abundance for a few weeks at the start of the season then we forgot all about it and went back to normal. At this point I think we have to accept that in SL rounds 1-3, 4-27 and playoffs will be refereed to 3 different tolerance levels of the rules, gradually relaxing until you have the GF where almost everything is let go to let the game flow and we all have our yearly discussion about how good it is seeing refs just let a game go.

What would stop it is the green card. If you think you’ve had a head contact so hard that you can’t play the ball normally, the ref should immediately deem you in need of an HIA and green card you.

I admire your self confidence. As I tell my daughter, you can be anything you want to be.

Have you met Harry? Agree with him and he'll still argue with you.

Rightly or wrongly, there is going to be an increased scrutiny when Asiata tackles low. And when he comes back from injury, if he makes the exact same tackle again he runs the risk of being sin binned. The charge might be challenged, but that's no good to us on matchday. If his right arm doesn't drop so quickly, then it becomes more apparent where his initial contact point is, and there is less question over the intention to wrap. Then if opposition players run in, we get the penalty, just like at the start of the cup final last year. As a Leigh fan, I'm glad they have appealed the charge, and highlighted that it was a card given based on the player involved rather than the actual incident. But I'm more bothered about seeing us win games, rather than proving the point. And what would be a small tweak to the tackle would reduce the risk of him being sent from the field considerably.

Go on then

Leigh v Wigan on the 4th has about 1000 tickets left

That's an nice, well rounded and balanced post. Asiata may have got off this time but he has been banned previously and is very likely to be banned again in the future unless he tidies up his technique.

Town have signed Tongan international forward Ponepate Tongia, subject to visa being approved. Looks a big mobile unit on video.

Following the game at St Helen's were he was dismissed from the field after 30 odd seconds, so in such a tight game the call from the referee Liam Moore could well have had a bearing on the result as he has been deemed to have got that decision wrong by the judiciary panel. Another point from that incident was the goggle eyed vociferous rant by Jon Wilkin very much Paul Wellenesq against the same player last season for a couple of incidents by the same player who again was totally vindicated for his actions, I believe Paul Wellens received a fine for his outburst, so what about Wilkins even after having the 'rulings' explained live on air by Brian Carney to tell him Asiata did nothing wrong still went on with his 'Character Assasination' towards Asiata, this is not the first time that Wilkin has been at the centre of delivering very controversial comments, surely the RFL should be making a formal complaint re this mans conduct to Sky to get him removed.

Harry's boycotting that particular coffee shop.

May the good lord have mercy on our souls.

Nothing announced for 2025, 2026, etc. - just aspirations. And we can't afford a gap year in 2024. London has hosted just 3 England games since the extraordinary 2013 RLWC semi-final. 2027 seems to be the next possible date for an England game to be held in the nation's capital - abysmal.

His technique has potential, more than most tackling techniques, to cause serious injury not just to his opponent but to himself. It's reckless and dangerous, whether it's classed as legal or not.

It is rather weird to start a thread like this. Almost every week we have a general disciplinary thread where this kind of stuff is covered yet for some bizarre reason we have a thread like this celebrating someone getting off. As you say Phiggins is absolutely correct, there is an obvious problem that will be costly to Leigh if not rectified. It's head in the sand stuff to ignore that.

No, I'm not judging the tackle. I think the tackle itself was just about fine, as did the pundits and tribunal. But the reality is, he runs the risk of being sin binned if he makes the exact same tackle again in his first game back. I'm not saying it's right, but it is the way it is. I'd rather see him go slightly higher, or keep his arms in the tackle for slightly longer, and stay on the pitch.

No offence but Castleford, like every other club have had years to invest in their facilities, maybe even academy systems but chose not to. It's not IMG's fault that Cas are where they are, this was probably going to happen when they kept the majority of the 2017 squad together until they were all past it and had no one coming through to replace them. That's my take on it anyway, I could be totally wrong and you probably know better But it's not down to IMG that Cas are pants.

Oh look it's a fan of a club who haven't paid a penny to build a stadium.

IMG put the onus on points scoring in other areas rather than on the pitch. Reap what you sow with some clubs. Unfortunately my club thought it could assemble a championship level squad to penny pinch for other areas. After all league standing counts for nothing.

Remind me not to sit next to you at parties

Momirovski gets his second. Or his first, depending on your opinion.

This is a sure sign that the VR is going to back the ref up and a sure sign that the process is failing. It's basically the VR saying he disagrees but isn't allowed to.

He has to have evidence it isn't a try, obvious evidence. Blurred slow mo doesn't give that, you need high speed cameras that show clear frame by frame. When refs didn't give an opinion people complained, when refs give an opinion people complain. You can't have both, and one or the other is going to anger people.

Literally no point in a VR if they are going to deny the evidence in front of them and go with the ref's call.

This is another good example of why it’s a terrible idea to require the on-field referee to give an indication. I’m fairly sure if the video ref wasn’t under pressure to back his colleague on the field, that’s no try. Didn’t look like control to me!

Squad news out in the morning, been sidetracked today.... Check out social media twitter and facebook after 7pm.......

The simple question I guess is. Why is Asiata being cleared of foul play a vindication of the player and yet Knowles being cleared of foul play abhorrent?

You will see many tackles in most games whereby the defender fails tp wrap his arms aroung the attacker - if the answer is for the attacking team to run in to get the defender dismissed then we will be in for some interesting games, plus you have just outlawed the ankle tap

Great to see more expansion and the Warriors joining can only be good for the game in New Zealand.

It is scheduled in the upcoming matches w/o a price tag. I‘d assume it is included in the annual subscription like the WCC.

In what has already been a record-breaking year for new sponsorship deals, the Warriors have signed a two-year deal with Arnott`s, the maker of New Zealand`s favourite biscuit. Warriors sign two-year partnership with Arnott's | Warriors

Or they're eating and drinking in Craven Streat. The irony of Hudds fans counting KRs empty seats

This match is free to stream on SL+ without a subscription. You have to create an account and sign in, but it's a taster for the uncommitted.

No,he served his suspension against York and Halifax. I’d start with Rush in the halves.

Miller for Leeds has been very good all through my man of the match.

I can't help but feel that the Aussies fixation with the AFL is an issue at play here. Let's be honest, the AFL don't have an international game and are rich, like the NRL are. They see little value in investing in internationals, they can have a few vanity projects like staging some games in Sydney for Tonga and Fiji, but they see the ARU and their international game failing, yet the AFL succeeding without one.

I saw no point in commenting on the Hardacre thread, I would have banned him.

Must admit, I’d never heard of either of the darts ‘stars’ who did the Challenge Cup quarter-final draw earlier this week. Mind you, I’m only really interested in sport...

Big news coming out of the North Sydney Bears AGM, appears non-negotiables are down to two now: Partner club must retain Bears Red and Black colours, and must retain/incorporate history of the North Sydney Bears into the new club. In addition it was mentioned that it would be desirable to have minimum one game a year at North Sydney oval. The big concession made though was that it appears the North Sydney Bears Rugby League club are prepared now not to own the franchise or the license to the new NRL team. This was a big sticking point for potential partner bids due to concerns that the franchise might be undermined with a plan eventually to get the club back to North Sydney. Another interesting development was that it was revealed that an official party from the W.A./Perth bid made a trip recently to Sydney to meet and discuss a joint venture. It also stated that the Bears are open to partnering with another entity, the most likely being a South Island New Zealand bid and that they must have plans for all contingencies - the hackneyed business term "nimble" was used - once the NRL reveal their preferred location for the new franchise. Interesting times.

26th June 1992, Princes Park Melbourne, Australia 10 GB 33. Doesn’t get any better than that.

My takeaway from this is that the Mail's online readership can't read fast and/or leave lots of tabs open. Also they dwell a lot much like trolls do under bridges.

That's it, it's usually 2 blokes though come on be fair It's the same as what Hull KR used to do not so long ago though, although I doubt many KR fans will remember much before 2008

My daughter’s generation seems to have the attention span of a gnat so I can’t imagine how boring they must find yawnion. League is the rugby of the future. Inclusive, classless, quick, entertaining.