He slapped him first and then smacked him.

I tell you what once Keith Senior retires it will be a sad day for Superleague.

Love him or loathe him what a great player he's been and what a servant to the game in this country. One of the all time best centre's this country has produced imo.... should get man of steel this year.

Hey!

NO!

Is it me or is everyone is missing the vital element that triggered Keith's handbags with Wilkin?

I watched the incident again on Sky+ and after Keith plays the ball Wilkin pushes him face first, with his hand on the back of his neck, to the floor! Sky missed it as did all the on-field officials but it is clear that Wilkin deliberately pushed Keith to the floor! That is why Keith was a little upset!

Now, Keith did over-react (IMO) and then they got to handbags and Keith slapped him and followed up with a punch, he was quite rightly sent to the bin, but that will be the end of it surely? If the review panel are going to bother themselves with incidents that are part and parcel of playing RL and one that look to have been handled correctly, allowing for the ref and touchy having missed the lead-up incident, with Keith being sent to bin then we might hit a new low!

Not only that but as he regained his feet Wilkin had keith held by the chest.

It was purely self defence by poor Keith.

I view this in a very similar light to the of Fielden and Mason, Fielden played the hard man and stuck his chin out, Mason duly hit it.

Wilkin grabbed Senior by the chest adn Keith slapped him, Wilkin at this point had the option to let go, unfortunately (for him) he didnt so Keith hit him with more power, this is a reaction that should be classed as business as usual.

You are right, Wilkin went looking for trouble and got it. You don't push Keith face first to the floor and then continue to hold the guy by the chest and don't expect to get a slap!

[:egkf08yuquote="Richie Ramrod"I view this in a very similar light to the of Fielden and Mason, Fielden played the hard man and stuck his chin out, Mason duly hit it.

I can see a similar thing happening to James Graham in the not to distant future, he huffs and puffs - then does nothing

Goodness me.

Sit yourself down.

Take a deep breath.

Ready?

I agree with you Mr Ramrod.

Having had time to see the incident again, does anyone think that Wilkin could be looking at a possible ban? I think Keith was very badly done to.

Anyone see Senior Going mental with Bailey when his sloppy defence lead to the Flannery try

?? Mr Bailey got a real ear bashing

.. and rightly so. Thought Bailey looked only 70% fit.. hopefully lots more to come from him in the playoffs.

It looked like nothing, then you can see on close up Wilkin saying a few things to Senior, then Senior hit him. Senior shouldn't have punched Wilkin, I think that's obvious, but it would be interesting to know what was said.

Keith might want to ask himself why he chased Eastmond across the field, given that Gardner was in midfield and Eastmond was on his own running towards Hall and Burrow.

It was Senior's over-pursuit (and Bailey's failure to fill) that created the gap for Flannery.

I think Senior was right to follow Eastmond as he was the most dangerous player, it's just that when the switch came his old bones couldn't change direction quick enough.

Yup that is how it looked to me also. The blame lay somewhere between the two of them.

As for the Senior - Wilkin skirmish, my take is Barrie-Jon started it and Keith finished it. The problem there is Senior copped a four match ban for that one in '98.

The lesson is don't get in Senior's face unless you want a smack, if only a couple of GB/England props (recent past and present) could back it up the way Senior does we might get more respect from the Aussies.

I don't think Keith needs to ask himself why he chased Eastmond. Eastmond was running with pace at the line and he was about 4m out. He was chasing him to make sure Eastmond wasn't going to score. When Eastmond passed the ball inside he made as much of an effort as possible to stop Flannery, but it was too much to ask.

Contrast that with Bailey, who seeing three of his team mates running towards towards the corner, stayed pretty much still, leaving a huge gap, and then only made a half hearted run to stop Flannery when it was obvious he was going in to score.

Keith was working hard and partly to blame, but Bailey weas dawdling and that was the major reason for the try. I'd much rather we make mistakes because of over-committment than not working enough in the first place.

Personally I thought Bentham bottled it big style on Friday and that Senior should have been sent off. It wasn't the sort of handbags that normally results in a binning, it was a full on punch delivered with force and only the fact Wilkin has a glass jaw stopped more from following IMO.

The touch judge's report was clear and concise but Bentham seemed to be waiting for either the TJ or video ref to tell him what to do next in terms of punishment.

Irrespective of the provocation involved, if you stand up and clock someone then you should be getting red carded IMO, not binned.

I bet you shave your nuts as well.

I can see your point, but you need to be aware of where the threat is when you are defending, and Eastmond at that point was running sideways straight into two defenders who at the time were marking nobody. If Senior holds his ground and passes Eastmond on, then whether he keeps the ball or drops Flannery off there's a line of defenders waiting for the ball carrier

Over-enthusiasm can be just as dangerous when you are defending your line - take a look at a number of occasions last year when Gareth Ellis was defending in the centres and flew out of the line leaving gaps.

I think Keith should have been sent off as well. Not because of the punch, but because of his actions afterwards. Even when Bentham was telling him clearly to step back he stood there and challenged the Saints players. That should have pushed the yellow into a red IMO.

For the actual punch I don't think he should have been sent off for that. Wilkin started it by pushing his head down to the ground when Keith was playing the ball. There was a little skirmish between them and both ended up on the deck. Keith was angry and could've smacked Wilkin then, but instead allowed him to get to his feet. Both players then grabbed at each others shirts, Wilkin said something, Keith slapped at Wilkin and then smacked him.

Wilkin got a smack which he was asking for.

If Keith should've got a red for his punch, then why shouldn't Gilmour for smacking Sean Long.

Come on Andy, be serious, Wilkin deliberately pushed Keith, after the ball had been played and therefore of the ball, face first into the grass by the back of his neck. Keith then got into Wilkin''s face about it and it went to verbal and handbags from both. Keith gave Wilkin a b1tch slap, Wilkin carried on holding Senior and he got a punch in the face.

Correct call, given that Bentham or the touchy (or Sky for that matter) had not seen the off the ball dig by Wilkin. Sin Bin and no more. If Bentham and the touchy had seen the Wilkin push down, it might have never got as far as it did and if it had Wilkin should have gone with him! End of, next game for both players please!

Wilkin pulling Keith over during the play the ball was a tactic Saints played all match, can't really see that being the reason Keith smacked him. When they both got to their feet something pretty bad must have been said for him to react like that and carry on afterwards aswell with Gilmour when Wilkin skulked off behind his teammates. Pretty sure after the match Keith was telling him to "ing apologise now" aswell, that wouldn't have been because of the interference.

5m from the line. Eastmond's running at Burrow, Hall's covering his winger, you really think Keith should be holding back and leaving Burrow to defend the try line against Eastmond?

From the PTB Keith was working. When Saints were going to their left he was following them and holding his defensive line. When Saints switched he followed them, along with Burrow and Hall. Bailey and one of the markers stood still at that time. When Keith started following Eastmond he was directly in front of Bailey, when Eastmond passed inside there was a 10m gap because Bailey was dawdling, along with the marker.

If Bailey had matched the effort of Keith the try would probably not have been scored. If Keith had matched the workrate of Bailey then Eastmond would have been powering over Burrow and scoring himself.

I am being serious - if you land a full-on punch to the head of an opponent then you should be seeing red rather than yellow. Senior had plenty of time to think about how to react to the situation, it's not like Wilkin came running at him fists flailing and he had to defend himself. He could have just pushed Wilkin away, he could have carried on with the grabbing and shoving that was going on but he chose to escalate it into a boxing match.

Whatever Wilkin did to cause the situation in the first place doesn't excuse Senior both choosing to escalate it and then ignoring the instructions of the referee and TJ by wanting to carry it on for some time afterwards.

Should have been looking at a dismissal, and should still be looking at a one game ban IMO.

Don't think it was the sole reason Keith smacked him, it was the start of the handbags and I am sure many word were then exchanged and things got worse from there. Wilkin probably deserved a punch in the face and Senior did deserve 10 minutes to think about it, but no more!