Not being harsh, I give him credit for the hesitation.

He still did the wrong thing though, especially if he realised/suspected he was giving away the game winning penalty. The better option was to tackle McGuire as/if he took possession. McGuire was far from certain to score (highly unlikely) and Leeds would have only had one play left to win the game.

Expected Sinfield to do another cartwheel.

Shenton would have still been penalised and the game cannot finish without the penalty been taken. Therefore Sinfield kicks the penalty and we lose by two.

Penalised for tackling McGuire? Really, is that the rule?

Then he should of backed up a step or two (behind where Sherwin lost contact with the ball) and played himself onside before making the tackle. Leaving Leeds one play to win the match.

Except he wouldn't.

Once McGuire retrieves the ball, the relative position of any Cas player tackling him to where Sherwin last touched it is irrelevant. It wasn't from a kick, he doesn't have to give the Leeds player 10 metres if he's in front of the last of his team to touch the ball.

Course there was always the chance that he could have either timed it wrong and taken McGuire early (which risked giving away a penalty try) or missed the tackle and McGuire scores making the kick irrelevant.

While none of that would have most likely gone through his mind, the snap judgement he made to play the ball was entirely the right one in the circumstances.

I thought it was as Sherwin was on the floor and Shenton was in front of him nearer the ball.

I thought Shenton would have been offside no matter what. Oh well it's all history now.

Yup.

Stop laughing.

According to my Cas supporting colleague who is also a referee, he'd have still been offside if he'd not have retreated behind where Sherwin knocked on.

Well whaddya know, having just looked it up he's right - section 14 of the laws says a player is offside if the ball touches, is touched, held or kicked by a team-mate behind him.

I thought that only applied to kicks, but apparently not. He'd have had to give McGuire ten metres unless he had retired behind Sherwin first.

There didn't seem to be 10 metres behind Sherwin for Shenton to have gone unless he fancied standing with us and then going back in to the field of play.

You can't be offside in your own in-goal, so presumably had he stood on the goal-line he would not have been treated as being inside the ten.

McGuire must have known this, so drifted the ball stopping just short of the in goal area

You mean controlled it with the invisible tractor beams that shoot from his eyes, surely?

My mistake

Surely it would have been sufficient for Shenton to retreat behind the point that Sherwin lost contact with the ball to be back onside. He wouldn't have needed (for example) to get behind the still sliding Sherwin (has he stopped yet.)

Sherwin caught the ball well within the playing area so Shenton could have placed himself back onside while remaining within the field of play.

Yet McGuire did

The title of the thread should give you a clue.

So back to my original point – did Shenton commit a ‘Professional’ foul i.e. did he deliberately commit a foul to prevent the opposition from scoring?

Professional foul - perhaps.
Would Leeds have scored had Shenton not picked the ball up - unlikely.
Would McGuire have been tackled short - likely.
Would Shenton have still been penalised for being offside - possibly.

Do you recall any player been given 10 minutes in the sin bin in similar circumstances?

Without at least a precedent I'd have thought he could consider himself very unlucky to receive any further punishment in the circumstances.

Don't recall a player ever being penalised in a similar situation and don’t think Shenton should have under the circumstances but, by the letter of the law, it was a professional foul. Although this point is purely academic now.

It is academic as to what Shenton did ( I'd have done the same ). Therefore maybe this thread has run its course as the game has been over since Friday night.

Thank you.

You now don't think Shenton should have even been penalised for being offside?

You've come along way from demanding his sending off and suspension from the other day.



As luck would have it Ian Smith (yet again) refereed the incident perfectly on the night.

He might have been different if Sinfield had missed the penalty.

Misunderstanding my friend – Shenton was deservedly punished for the offside – an absolute offence I believe it is referred to.

No – was saying that the penalty was sufficient punishment under the circumstances although in the true definition of the laws it was a ‘pro – foul’ and, under current RFL guide –lines, he may have been banned for life and forced to watch black a white re-runs of ‘I love Lucy’ on a 13" portable T.V.