Personally it's gutting for Cooper, the wrong side of 30 for such an injury.

From the club side, him out now, Magi not playing is 2 props down. Mago needs to be moved on and someone signed for this season. JWH?

Wellens take on it...

We got a phone call from the Match Review Panel on Monday that Morgan Knowles had been charge with a Grade D,” Wellens said.

“What I would say in this situation is no coach or player wants players to suffer injuries but injuries are part and parcel of the sport. Ours is a collision sport and things can go wrong at times.

“I know Morgan Knowles as a person and how tough he plays the game and how honest a person is. He doesn’t go out on the field to injure players.

“I came off Twitter 12 months ago now for good reason, rugby league is about opinion and everyone has them. What social media does is it gives everyone a platform to share that opinion.

In the build up to when we are facing a tribunal it is important that it doesn’t become trial by social media.”

Wellens also revealed that Knowles is disappointed to hear of Cooper’s injury.

“Morgan is disappointed that a player is injured, he doesn’t go out on the field to injure an opponent. Morgan is disappointed with the situation that he finds himself in. Mike is a player I really like and have respected him for a long time.”

On the incident itself, Wellens didn’t go into detail.

We got the charge sheet and at this stage with the tribunal to follow, I can’t really say too much and let that process take its course,” Wellens continued.

“Should we need to comment after it then we will but with the process still ongoing, I think it’s better I say very little.”

Translation. I know it was a terrible tackle which has all but ended a career but please don’t give him too many matches.

There's very little else he can say until the actual hearing, as no doubt he will be there for character reference or worst case in an appeal scenario. if he says too much now, its likely to have an influence which he's trying to stay clear of

for whats its worth, and i think all coaches should do the same if they havent, he's done the best thing coming off social media. the chances of getting wound up by an oppo fan is all too easy, and possibly costly to a coach given that many fans want their opinion but cry like babies when someone comes back at them

reading between the lines too, he got away with one before the grand final last year, and ended another player season the week before with the same tackle technique **edit i'd seen a video and thought it was last week, but McGillvary was last season **, so Saints are expecting a hefty ban, but hopeful the he's a good egg keeps it down to 2-3 matches

Terrible news - hope he recovers quickly.

FWIW having watched the tackle a couple of times I can't see any sort of malice there at all. Maybe I don't understand the rules well enough or haven't seen the right angle to know exactly what he's done so wrong for people to be calling it a terrible tackle given the bodies in there. But if it has been earmarked as the sort of tackle that could cause serious injury and now it has, then the proof is in the pudding.

Anyway, the important thing is Mike Cooper and I desperately hope this isn't something that shortens his career. Get well soon MC.

Imo the vast majority of terrible tackles don’t have malice involved. Doesn’t make them not a terrible tackle though. To quote many St Helens supporters when referring to Wigan players of the past. Players know the injuries these types of tackle can cause and choose to do them anyway, Knowles made that choice (and not for the first time).

The injury to MC has proved what all the fuss in Australia over this type of tackle is all about. The disciplinary have an interesting decision to make. They have the circumstance to really send a message out and stamp it out before it becomes a real problem.

Jermaine McGilvary has had a pop on Twitter, seems it was Knowles who put him out for 6 months last year with the same kind of tackle

i'd posted on here and Warriors fans, that i didnt see anything worthy of a ban having been at the game and watched it back twice on TV. I think the ref let the game go, and where appropriate Singleton (careless), Sironen (careless) and Matautia (late hit and swinging arm) penalised without going over the top. Quick word with culprit and captain, and move on, which is how it should be for a game of that intensity

what i have picked up on through social media is the current clamour for this type of tackle, it looks like we have moved on from cannonball, crusher and this is now the big focus, so likely to see some bans issued where players are leaving the ground to put their weight behind the tackle. Smithies has got a 1 game ban, and i had to watch it back 3 or 4 times, same as i did with the Knowles one. To my untrained eye i didnt see owt wrong, apart from with Knowles he does leave the ground fractionally. I also dont buy into the injury to the opponent has / should have any influence on the outcome, but it looks like he could be getting min of 2-3 games

the ban shouldnt reflect the injury in this case or any other

Hopefully he can come back to full strength but like others have said the age of him and the injury looks likely he’ll not return. A lot of daft accusation being thrown around on social media about Knowles. I refuse to believe it was intentional. Cooper was still moving and was only a few inches from the line with 3 players on him. It was a stupid judgement call from Knowles to stop him. Some saints are showing lack of class and pointing out the daft knee slide on Knowles (didn’t happen) an singletons high tackle on a falling player. However Sironens two tip tackles were not flagged. smithies get a bad name from others on his so called dirtiness but the way Knowles keep Being flagged up he’s taking over

Somebody just put Knowles disciplinary record up on Twitter. He has apparently been charged 44 times since 2018. Now all weren’t bans and some would’ve just been a caution but that Is incredible if true. Maybe there wasn’t any malicious intent in this (I’m sure there wasn’t to be fair) but he’s clearly got some real issues with his tackling techniques.

Conspiracy. All made up just to try and ban him.

That isnt a very good stat tbh. And they have the cheak to call us 'dirty'

McGillvery has gone public about the tackle, as it was just coincidental that the same Saints player was involved in both incidents.

He's been looked at 44 times since '18, the killer though as a Saints fan pointed out is 9 charges and counting since the start of the '22 season, that's a lot of matches sat on his backside for someone who should be a pack leader alongside Roby and Walmsley

It feels like he’s going to need to reinvent his game in some ways or else it will keep happening. He is a cracking player, all effort and will to win but he’s putting other players at risk with the small ‘detail’ I’m sure goes in to his work. They’ve done all this work to stop things like punching but I’m sure a player would rather be punched in the face, than sit out of the game for 6 to 12 months (as McGillvary and Cooper have done). Kaide Ellis got 5 games for a minor scuffle last season and Knowles got to play in a Grand Final, a week after an awful lookimg challenge on Chris Atkin.

5 match ban for Knowles

Not enough

Not really much else Wellens can say in public. I have a lot of respect for Wellens, not only was he a superb player but he seems like a likeable coach and man just as we have in Matty Peet. It's nice to see a fierce rivalry being respected by both coaches.

On the injury. You would have to say it's the end of the road for his playing career and i would imagine he is being medically advised (privately) that this would be the best decision. It's a terrible age for that kind of injury.

What i will say though is the intensity in our pack improved measurably when Cooper joined and his presence has obviously had a big impact on our young props. I would be very much for the idea that he uses his time to build his coaching career and takes a job on the staff. His experience both in the Super League and NRL will stand him in good stead.

Be interesting to see if any other player gets a 5 match ban for the same offence

Suppose it’ll depend on their history, especially history regarding those types of tackles.

Mike Critchley (from the St Helens Star ) has asked if the England v France game will count towards the ban for me it shouldn't

It probably will although it shoudlnt

However, with the England being a certain Mr Wane, maybe he wont pick Knowles just to make sure he misses 5 league games....

It won't matter, there's a reserves round the same weekend as the International and that WILL count for both Knowles and Dudson, and anybody else for that matter whose suspension falls on that weekend
I don't agree with it but it's always been the case and I'm sure we will have benefitted in the past, as Joe Westerman did earlier in the season.

It's wrong, though, isn't it, whoever benefits? It's contrary to the spirit of the game, and should be stopped.