I agree mate.
Maybe he did start his period early.
FWIW Walters probably brought the sledging on himself trying to wind up as many Saints players as he could Sironen especially.
No complaints from me with Lomax doing the same back at Walters.

Fair enough on Walters sledging sironen after he tried roughing him up with some shthousery

Sironen and housery go together.

Pretty much all the saints forwards were at it,it's actually part of their game plan and has been all season.

Apparently the touch judge indicated to the ref that a punch was thrown. On that basis he was sent off. Should imagine they will accept the word of the touch judge. Like many others I never saw a punch thrown, years ago a warning would have been sufficient. Unfortunately in modern rugby you soon get your marching orders.

2 match ban for McDonnell based on what the TJ saw.
No ban for MacDonald or Matautia.
Did someone say there was a dangerous tackle on Holroyd?

I've no idea how the disciplinary panel conducts itself in terms of evidence it demands, but please tell me it's more than an official (the TJ in this case) saying "I saw a punch" and that being deemed sufficient. It's bad enough solely taking his word for it on the night, but to then compound the punishment further on the same word is barking mad.

100% right although if the club calls them out on this lunacy we're straight into the land of the frivolous appeal...

Grade D punching ffs






RFL disciplinary is a joke

When the ref said to him "You've punched him directly in the head" you can hear him say "I haven't." which would be a very strange thing to say if you have. I don't think anyone would deny McDonnell roughed him up a bit (quite right too IMO) but if you're going to ban someone for punching it would be great to at least see the punch. There were enough cameras there, if he threw a punch we'd have seen it.

That the video ref didn't get involved is telling...mind you he barely glanced at whether Walters touched the line on his disallowed try and was absolutely certain a Saints player had touched the ball from a single look at an inconclusive angle for Sangare's (WTF was that by the way? I thought to overrule the ref you had to be certain?), so if he had got involved we'd probably be looking at a murder charge.

I thought it was no try on thd field? I might be remembering wrong mind

I really hope we appeal this one.

Agreed on the frivolous appeal nonsense. Surely, though, the club is entitled to see the punch that they've banned him for.

McDonnell said he didn't throw a punch. The easiest way to put this to bed is to show the footage of the punch. It wasn't shown on the night - odd in itself, given the number of cameras at the game and that Sky usually fall over themselves to pick up any semblance of wrongdoing. Show it now and this all goes away.

In doubling down on what is increasingly looking like the wrong call on the night, the RFL is, as usual, making itself look like an amateur hour outfit. At best.

Sangares went up as a try.

The argument I would use is that video evidence is considered during the game for points scoring, so should be at least admissible in a disciplinary hearing. If the video shows no punch (rather than inconclusive) I’d appeal.

Absolutely. There was nothing conclusive in the replay, nothing at all. He must have the eyes of a hawk must Griffiths though, as you say in one glance he detected a clear knock on.

Of course he’s gonna lie and say he didn’t do it, I know I would.

And shortly after the punch would be shown on the big screen and proving him to be a liar. Except it wasn't.

The officials are there to make these decisions and have authority, from the replays it wasn’t clear due to all the players around him.

If there’s no clear evidence on tape surely they have to take the word of the officials, if not, what’s the point in having them.

But him saying i didn’t do that doesn’t automatically mean he didn’t do it.

I’ve got no idea if he did it or not. You couldn’t see it from the replay, but someone obviously made some decent contact with Lomax to have that much blood out of his lip.

You can accept the sending off in a way, because maybe the officials didn't have a clear view.
But surely there has to be conclusive evidence for him to be banned??
If he is honest with the club and is adamant he didn't throw a punch, then we have to appeal.
Then surely the MRP has to show the evidence?

You can't go banning players just because someone has blood on their face.
There has to be evidence of how it got there.

And I’m not saying they should, just pointing out that someone prob did punch Lomax, and the linesman has said it was McDonnell

Leeds simply have to appeal that. We can't get further into this buffoonery of our players being banned for made up crap, especially when it came against the team which has cheated and scammed the system most of all in the league.

What....more than Wigan.