Who was our hooker that Sonny Nickle attacked from behind?
And how many matches did Nickle get?

robbie mears

Sonny Nickle was originally banned for six months, but this was changed to 9 matches upon appeal.

I know I'm probably the only person who thinks this, but I'd still classify Westwood's punch last season as being the more serious and cowardly attack than what Flowers did.

Yes, Flowers was completely and utterly wrong for carrying on the attack when the guy was down and out. But all the damage was done to Hohaia when both were fighting and it was a fair one on one.

Give over.

The worst incident I saw at Headingley and Juan Cornetto will remember this too, 1962 we signed a welsh international stand off called Alun Rees who was looking a ver good attacking player and one game against Oldham he was jinxing through and Keith Holden was waiting for him and deliberately smashed both fists clasped together in Rees's nose which was broken and he was never the same again he only made 36 apps.

Cassidy on Morley was very bad. The flower punch was just shocking. As in complete shock I had actually see it happen.

Waste of an opportunity by Flower. WTF didn't he wait 'til they played cas? I'd die a happy man having heard Mick Morgan's take on it.

Dannatt on Hanley was one of the worst I remember seeing live.

David Cruickshank's ocular assault on a Saints player at HQ in 1990(?) was pretty bad too. Did he ever play for Leeds again after that?

It would appear that the Wigan damage limitation machine is in full flow.Trying to play down how damaging this has been to Rugby League.The Yawnies at work have had a field day today, "family game what family game!etc etc" Many thanks for that Ben Flower.

I think the Union brigade might just want to take a look at some of what happens around the fringes of rucks at the top level in their sport before they get too excited.

I seem to recall a current England international getting his marching orders in the Premiership final for serial effing and jeffing at the ref not so long back.

Gentleman's game and all that.

The David Cruickshank one was a head high "tackle" on Saints Paul Groves I believe ?

Not sure if he played after that, however with 12 men we went on to beat Saints 50-14..........see Wigan, 12 men can beat Saints, you just need to have Phil Ford, and John Bentley in your side

It was on my birthday, in fact. I remember it well.

It was a head high "tackle" that bore a very strong resemblance to shoving his fingers in the bloke's eyes...

I can't remember him playing again, but then I were only a young lad.

Conveniently ignoring Flower smacking an unsighted Hohaia around the back of the head prior to his act of retaliation. If anyone deserved anything Flower deserved that. Is it not a grub act for a prop to hit a half back from behind and off the ball?

Only if Ryan Bailey does it

Flower blew a fuse and it looked (and was) very, very bad. But I've seen assaults of the premeditated and cynical variety that I consider to be worse - and that have resulted in worse injuries to the victims. They were, however, perhaps lacking a little in terms of televisual spectacle compared to flower's assault.

I was as horrified as anyone by the sight of the filthy slugger in action and that is compounded by the immediate and bloodthirsty response of the national vulture media who ignore our game for 99% of the time. I am livid that the image of our family game, for which we have been striving, has been swiped into oblivion, not only by the criminal act of sheer thuggery, but also in that it has led to the likes of Offiah who, on Twitter and on ITV news pandered to the media thirst for negative news. He, and others, of course, deny it but they have tried to 'excuse' the first punch as part of a legitimate exchange, and made ridiculous efforts to portray the second punch as explicable in a variety of ways! The only explanation lies in Wane's coaching style and that is what will surely destroy our image. If players are sent onto the playing field with the kind of hatred he generates and encourages within them (Watch Warriors Down Under) then this will surely be the kiss of death to any positive coverage we have striven for. I was advocating 'non RL fans' to watch the GF if they wanted to see real sportsmen. Within 2 minutes I was regretting saying a word to anyone! I am furious that Flower brought such disgrace on MY beloved game! He and Wane have brought the entire game into disrepute and should pay dearly. No doubt, by the end of today Flower will walk away from Red Hall with a ridiculously lenient ban and Wane will just go on as before. The RFL should have the balls to ban the pair of them for a long time but of course Wane's contribution is not even part of their discussion. The RFL is a shambles. There is already a really bad smell around Red Hall, with GH now paying for having spoken of it. My guess is that by the end of today it will stink to high heaven around there.

What someone should do is to re-interview Lenegan & start by showing him the clip of the programme on youtube where Wane demands that his players knock out opposition players.
Then ask Lenegan if he thinks that approach in a game prior to which the coach has preached hatred against the opposition may have had any bearing on Flower's actions.
Not that it will happen.

Shaun Wane invented foul play on a Rugby League pitch. Fact.

And then watch clips of 50 boxing coaches telling boxers to smash their opponents nose into their skull and realise that the terminology of coaching might not fit the childish PG world you live in.

Indeed.

As for the "damage" this has done to the game in the national consciousness, I'm not buying that either.

Give it a week until some Premier League footballer has made a muppet of himself (thanks, Raheem Sterling for starting that ball rolling) and it will all but disappear from the media.

IMO it's no worse than Duncan McRea's assault on Ronan O'Gara, or Schalk Burger's gouge during the Lions tour to SA. They don't seem to be the first thing anyone thinks of when rugby union comes up in discussion, despite the sizeable amount of press they generated at the time.

The sad fact is it has now made the main ITV news (last night). Apparently the police have submitted the case for perusal by the CPS.

When was the last time RL made the main news TV non sport bulletins?

Isn't the purpose of boxing to damage their opponent and knock them out? Isn't the purpose of Rugby League, to entertain spectators with entertaining passing in a team environment with the purpose of scoring tries, and to tackle within the rules to prevent tries against?

Not sure where the link is with the example.

There isn't one, that's why no-one can find a link.

Wane's tactics of getting his players so worked up has worked fairly well for most of the season, partly due to the leniency of the disciplinary and referees in not penalising more harshly the parts of Wigan's game that goes beyond just good, aggressive defence. But it's finally backfired spectacularly in the Grand Final. He got one of his less experienced, less talented players so worked up that he went well beyond the line. In only the 2nd minute.

We've seen Wigan's game all year, something like this has been coming.

I'm not sure about less talented. I would take Flower over about any other of their forwards, assuming O'Loughlin's days are diminishing.