To be honest, I have never been an advocate of banning a player based upon the level of injury to his victim.

Sometimes the most innocuous of challenges can result in a serious injury, and the worst challenges can result in nothing more than a bloody nose, so we need to be careful if we go down that path.

Flower was out of order, and should receive a ban commensurate with what he did. I expect him to get 12 matches, which is over the top, but I think that is what he will get.

I also realise that anything less than a public flogging will lead to much wailing and gnashing of teeth from some quarters.

Problem is they will be.

Anything above 6 months from now is a joke and totally proves that the RFL is corrupt.

All I know is that when the ban is handed out some Wigan fans will say it is too many and some Saints fans will say it's not enough.

That is very true but what worries me in this is the stance that Saints as a club are taking. They say that they are happy for the RL to deal with it and not involve the police, which on the face of it sounds very reasonable. But they also say that if they don't think that the incident is dealt with to their satisfaction then they will consider looking at taking the matter further. It seems to me that they are trying to force the RL's hand into giving Flower as big as ban as possible. It's obvious that the RL don't want to see it go to the police as this will open a whole can of worms for future cases so they are being put under pressure by the Saints management.
It would have been better and more honest of Saints to say they want to take the issue further, or else say they are happy to let the RL deal with it ,not try to put pressure on the RL.

Public execution will not be enough for Saints fans.

In my opinion public execution is way too good for most Saints fans.