I'm not prone to hysteria - and it's a fair criticism that the OP was badly titled and not especially well written - but the nub of the post is correct; it's a despicable strategy with potentially devastating consequences, and it needs to be stamped out of the game; and Brian Mac had it right way back when - make it illegal to join a tackle below the knees after contact, and it's gone, just like that.

I've watched the Wigan match back on replay, and it was definitely more notable than most games; it was, I suspect, an attempt to control the really big forwards who have been wreaking havoc, but it was done recklessly and without due care for player welfare - which has been, as evidenced by Shaun Wane's ranting exhortations to his players to "be fu**ing reckless!" a Wigan tactic for some time.

I hope that the one on Fifita is properly handled by the disciplinary panel, to send a strong message; and that the attention its getting on social media will have a more far-reaching impact. We need this out of the game once and for all, and some coaches have more to do than others.

So they decided the challenge on Fifita was a grade A 0 games - despite the minutes saying it posed an "unacceptable risk of injury"...How you can deem a challenge poses an unacceptable risk of injury but is not worth a long ban never mind no ban is confusing to say the least.

Sam Powell did pick up a grade C 2 matches for his challenge on Lynn, however.

unless I'm mistaken the tackle on Fafita has been ignored by the panel

You are mistaken, Shorrocks was given a Grade A charge, no ban.

Indeed, probably because Fifita played on. Powell, on the other hand cops a ban that deliberately injured Reece Lynn.
Maybe some of the Wigan fans on your own board will now be man enough to admit that they were wrong.

Some of your fans say "why are you only picking Wigan out for criticism" but, your side under Wane played a little further "over the line" than others and under Lam, things seem to have got a little worse. Maybe this is part of the "win at all costs ethos" but as one of the biggest clubs in the sport, especially in the UK, Wigan should be setting some sort of (good) example.

Some say that clubs like Wakefield are dragging the sport down but, at least we haven't stooped to your levels.

No real surprise, like I said Tautai only got a 1 match ban for one on Cuthbertson that was just as bad if not worst.

What coaches need to do is join together and air their concerns at the same time as a group, rather than only when it happens to them.

Fifita didn't play on, he stayed down. Do you have any proof that Powell "deliberately" injured a player, or that he made a reckless tackle that caused an injury and has got a proportionate ban?



Funny that, Pauli Pauli got the same charge as Shorrocks, who you claim is deliberately out to injure players; work that one out.

Got the same grade, not the same charge, which is ridiculous. Has Wigan fan seen the clip Fafita posted and can honestly say that the player didn't deserve to be banned?

Wigan have been at it for years, even at youth level. “Snap the pole” was the term used for it by Wane when he was youth coach. Castleford fans boo’d the Wigan youth team off in one game for using these tactics. Some said that was disrespectful as they were only young lads but it’s wasn't the lads they were booing, it was the ethos.

But it’s not just a Wigan thing and they didn’t start it. It’s across the sport in both hemispheres.

These are worse tackles than high tackles but everyone goes wild when a head smash comes in and brush aside these cannonballs; “oh it’s not that bad, started at the hip”.

Wigan fans still talk about Ben Westwood's punch on Blake Green in the 2013 Grand Final. It was a shocker and he should have been sent off, don’t think anyone’s ever said any different. Green had a black eye but went on to win the MOTM. However the worst tackle of the game was Harrison Hansen’s on Stef Ratchford when Ratchford was stood up in a tackle (the pole) and Hansen came in with his full body weight in his shoulder coming down on Ratchford’s knee (snap). Yes first contact was at the hip, like many of these, but the full body weight contact was at the knee. Ratchford wasn’t just out of the Grand Final in a tight game that could have gone either way at that point, he was out of the start of the next season and had a poor season as his recovery took him a full year.

The rule already states that when a player’s momentum stops, he is held. Referees need to call held immediately when that happens. Anyone coming in after that whether high low and just for a tickle should be penalised. This game is tough enough without targeting joints and possibly ending a career.

I call it out whenever I see it.

Wire did two on Saints’ players last week and they should be punished for it. I don’t stand for it whenever anyone does it including my own team’s players.

Quite right too - this goes beyond team allegiances; if you love the game, you should hate this kind of tactic - designed as it is to injure an opponent and take them out of the match.

Like you, I'd be equally appalled to see one of my own team's players do it, as I am when anyone else does it.

I'm firmly of the belief that once an attacker has lost his forward momentum, the referee should call held promptly; they faff about too much, which allows additional tacklers to join in and take him to the floor, even though the tackle is technically complete - and that's the danger point for this type of attack; attacker is stationary, held up by defenders, and completely vulnerable to a cannonball on the lower body. It's awful to watch, and shame on any coach or player who does it.

Spot on with the first 2 paragraphs.

I have sympathy with refs as often the attacker is still moving albeit slowly. However I agree with Printer that the coaches should come out together as a group to confront this issue.

This is a situation where a strong players union would be useful to literally protect their members.

Whilst what happened to Fifita was poor, I've never ever seen a player from any sport go bleating about such stuff on social media and look for sympathy.

But bleating about everything and anything seems to be the ethos throughout the club and it's support at Wakefield.

Oh Jonno the grate! There is nobody that bleats more on any subject on the whole forum as you do about Wakefield. You are obsessed.

I think I speak for the majority of people who read this forum, Wakefield fans or not, when I say off Jonno, you boring .

Same old, same old

knew it wouldn't be long before you tired of FC. and came back to us YAWN.

really is time these trolls were banned. But they will not be.

What a ridiculous statement. Time to give it a rest.

Don’t be daft.

It’s a cowardly and unnecessary tactic is the cannonball tackle. It is only negative to the sport, it adds nothing whatsoever and should be eliminated from the game.

Complaining about a tackle technique that has only 1 purpose, which is to injure, should not be criticised it should be supported.

He should be complaining to the RFL with a proper case then or speaking to Wigan players after the game, not sending out a tweet. That’s just playing to the fans.

Players and coaches have complained before. It got a temporary crackdown only. It has come back without anything like as robust a response from the RFL as needed. Players shouldn’t have to chase the RFL for protection from injury.

I don’t have any problem with him tweeting in this regard.

Problem is that certain individuals from different clubs were involved in changes to the disciplinary process. This from the first page of the RFL disciplinary

“A number of changes were made to the disciplinary system ahead of the 2018 season. This followed a review undertaken by the Disciplinary Review Group which comprised:

Neil Hudgell – Hull KR Chairman
Michael Carter – Wakefield Chairman
Chris Hamilton – Oldham Chairman
Motu Tony – former Hull FC Football Manager”

Note the 2nd name on that list, if Fifita wants more answers as to why something like that tackle isn’t punished harder then ask his chairman who led the latest Disciplinary Review Group.

Why have you got such a big problem with the tweet?
Its no different to an interview on Sky or BBC. Its just that he controlled it himself.
He didn't name the player or have a go at Wigan. He didn't even give a biased unfounded opinion like many do.
He got the video so you could decide for yourself whether it was a fair tackle. As it was already being talked about I thought that was pretty straight and honest of him.

And that, of course, is conclusive proof that the review group gave explicit instructions to allow the blatant and cowardly cannonball tackle to go unpunished on the field.

Or maybe it's not - and the truth is that had that tackle been on Merrin, and he'd Tweeted in similar fashion, you'd be leading the lynch-mob to have the perpetrator strung up at the gates of Red Hall.

A significant barrier to changing things for the better in RL, is the pathetic and one-eyed club bias that some supposed fans of the game are guilty of; I say again, if you love the game, this kind of tactic is something you should call out, regardless of who does it - rather than the pathetic spectacle of defending the indefensible when it involves your own club, but condemning it when it doesn't. RL fans are incapable of speaking in one voice - as are Chairmen it seems - which makes us weak, and easy to ignore.

No, but they’ve had a key involvement in how the disciplinary process operates so if Fifita or Wakefield fans want to know why this kind of tackle isn’t punished harsher then you can try get some answers from your chairman instead of just blaming the RFL or saying “Wigan can do what they want etc.”



As for the “what if it was Merrin?” As pointed out Leeds and Cuthbertson were on the receiving end of the same thing 3 years ago, don’t recall too many neutrals kicking up a fuss. If they did maybe this punishment for this type of tackle would’ve increased significantly well before last week’s game.

As for the last part, that’s exactly been my point. I’ve never defended the tackle, never said it shouldn’t be punished harder. But the reality is when it next happens to another player at another club will Wakefield fans and Fifita make much if any noise about it? I doubt it.