And I agree



[urlhttp://www.sportinglife.com/rugbyleague/news/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=rleague/10/05/05/RUGBYL_Huddersfield_Brown.html[/url

great atricle and spot on.

I agree entirely with him. There is no fear of the disciplinary system in Super League.

The officials are such weak characters (There because they put their hand up) that when things such as the on report system are brought in they are instantly used as a fall back against making a decision for themselves. Even when an incident is highlighted and the player cited, the punishment is so meaningless, incredibly short bans are the outcome of most serious incidents. When was the last time a long ban was dished out?

The incident that enraged Brown annoyed me too. O'Loughlin hit the head of Robinson with the forarm, very close to the elbow. I think any tackle where the point of impact is the head should result in an automatic yellow and a red if sufficiently dangerous or malicious, O'Loughlin's was both, as Brown hinted at, it was so blatant that he targeted a key man for a cheap shot. Wigan did the same against Saints early on as well, with high shots raining down on Graham. But as Brown mentioned it's not just them that do it, it's just another area they exploit to the full.

Red cards are such a potential game changing moment that most referees wouldn't send off a player for decapitating someone, so perhaps they need to shift the emphasis. If they can fanny about for 5 minutes checking every obvious try decision, they could surely ask an off field official if an incident warrants a red. This could happen whilst the injured party is receiving treatment.

So true, they are bending the rules but it is within them. You cannot blame them. I wouldn't say it ruins the game because both teams are quality. Every game we play we see awesome tries scored by us because we play awesome attacking rugby and it takes some special plays to beat us. It is not ruining the game but perhaps not allowing it to reach its potential.

As a rugby league fan for life I love tight defensive games but surely it would be better for the sport if it was quicker and high scoring, that way more newbies would get on board.

However, what we don't want is such a rapid play the ball that one team can just win a game by 60 scoring all points from QPTB.

I do think we need to protect the playmakers as well but his rant about Lockers was just silly.
Tomkins and eastmond get knocked about all the time but they take it and get on with it.

I've always felt that "On Report" is a cop out. I think that if something is worth putting on report then the offending player should get an automatic 10 mins in the sin bin

Totally agree with what he say's. A high tackle was 8 matches 10 years ago, know its £300 and a warning letter.

We risk waiting till a tackle goes badly wrong before we act which is unacceptable

Wrong.

The point of contact was CLEARLY arm to chest. Don't even suggest Lockers' other arm hits the head - you can see his hand poking out behind the other arm - he had his arms crossed and used them and the collision to throw Robinson down. Neither arm goes above the neck at all. Lockers' shoulder might have hit the head but Morley has made a living out of that sort of shot.



Now I'm not suggesting it wasn't late or worthy of 10 minutes or 'On Report', but to suggest Lockers smashed Robinson's head with his forearm is ridiculous.

And don't forget Robinson had his back turn and the ball hidden a fraction of a second earlier. If you're going to turn your back and hide the ball to disguise your intent, you're going to get smashed at some point.

I don't doubt your case of defense. Well put mate. I think the issue is about this "type" of collision.

Do we wait till a challenge like this goes terribly wrong before acting to remove it. He should be targetting using the top of his shoulder with arms ready to "wrap."

Elbows are too close to faces in this type of challenge

Unless you play for QuinsRL that is.
The categories of offences don't seem to be the issue here, but the interpretation of them is. Some punishments handed out are just inconsistent.....
As for Browns comments....he is just doing an Fergie and trying to get inside the refs heads. Happened over here last week when a S14 ref was binned for 1 game after a comment from a player......it's nothing new.
As for instructing his enforcers.......go ahead, but don't complain when they get banned or sent off......

Fair point, and I don't think many Wigan fans will deny it was late and probably with intent, but it wasn't high in the RL sense of the word (eg the high tackle on Morley against Salford).

10 minutes or on report would have been fine. The thing is it was a hard challenge on a smaller unprepared opponent and therefore looked pretty nasty and dramatic, but was ultimately harmless. It'll certainly be on plenty of YouTube compilations in years to come.

Mate it wasnt high at all and if it is dealt with consistently then the decision on sanction was right.

BUT, we do need to act to rid our game of this type of challenge. Twist it round and imagine a squad player does this to get noticed, gets it wrong and ends the career of someone like Sam Tomkins? God forbid we dont want that happening. We dont want it happening to anyone