It was a natural reaction from the fans to say to Ben that we forgive him and we're happy that he's back. I thought it was quite emotional and I reckon it lifted Ben no end.

would you have preferred the fans to do nothing and let the Wire fans Boo's get to him instead.

I think we (the sport, supporters etc) learned a lot from the Terry Newton tragedy. You don't hang people out to dry for one mistake without any support or make sure they know they're wanted and appreciated when it's necessary. I was on my feet, not embarrassed at all, no way was it excessive.

Personally, I don't blame the club for taking the opp to tell the fans their side of the story. They got a lot of flak for not putting up enough of a fight to keep these players originally. I think it's fair enough that they celebrate the fact their tactic worked in the face of a big home crowd.

An absolute natural reaction imo. Great to see.

I thought he performed very well all things considered. Great to have him back.

Having Ben back will make a massive difference to the pack.
In fact I thought we only got on top of the Wire pack from the point at which he came on.

He's a very good prop and the club should secure his and the pack's future by giving him a new contract. I'd say 5 years but 4 years seem the fav time of the club so I'd go along with that.

To be honest Ben made no impact, to be specific he was poor. People got carried away with the hype and forgot he isn't really that good, out of our props he's the least talented and if he's with us next season I'd be shocked.
It was a nice return for him but that's it, people will start remembering he's crap

Let down by the club? Hung out to dry? Are you serious ?

HE let the club down! HE let the game down! You make out like he was wrongly accused of something. He practically asaulted a player on the pitch with a act that's never been seen on a pro rugby pitch EVER! You do that in the street and you go down.

Imo wigan backed him to the hilt. Lance Hohaia didn't make a big deal of it even tho it totally ruined his grand final. Saints offered him all the support in the world.

I think it was pretty embarrassing the standing ovation he got. He's back from a ban and not a injury.

I can get it, if you lot do it when Sam returns to the club but FFS Flower was back from a 6 month ban

Calm down a bit. By today's standards I agree the club backed him but he still had to do the sackcloth and ashes routine demanded by the outraged classes such as yourself.

By me? Really ?


Check my posts on the Flower incident. I said it was bad and the 6 month ban was far to long. Id have give him 6-8 games.

His stats were good and proved his impact was good.

He was consistently our best prop for the last two years and I'd guess he will be again.

You've just contradicted yourself haven't you? On the one hand you say he's not been hung out to dry and then you go on to say that his ban was far too long? Ben is hardly a well known thug on the pitch and had a very good disciplinary record before the incident. None of this seemed to be taken into accoun.

Some of the talk at the time of police involvement and anger management classes went too far imo. It was a witch hunt at one point and I think the club could have backed him a little louder.

To be fair I do remember your previous posts. I was just reacting to your last one with all of the exclamation marks. I shall therefore remove you from the aforementioned outraged classes.

I don't think he was hung out to dry for his actions but I play and know things boil over. I like the tough part of the game so I'm not really into handing out 6 month bans but I can see why he got that ban and I beleive wigan made comment that they except the ban and fully deserved.

He's been backed by everyone and by no means at all hung out to dry and 100% Shouldnt have got the red carpet hero treatment he got. After all, you would have won the final by "30 points Easy" if it wasn't for him

I had it down as forty points



I guess we will have to just agree to disagree. I personally don't think it warranted a 6 month ban. I've seen slightly worse actions on a pitch result in far less (Isaac Luke trying to break Chase's ankle only got 2 weeks).

People always like to see a return and that's why he got such a good ovation imo. I will say it's probably a little hypocritical of some as many of those cheering will be the same cretins who were calling for his head! But sometimes in sport you have to look after your own and that's what this was.

And I 100% agree that 6 month was to long Imo but I can see why the RFL had to do it.

I personally thougt 6 to 8 games for it.

Last season his stats were just above Jordan James and below Clubb who was adjusting to a new position and didn't play that much. He has never been anything but an average prop at best, metres gained last season he wasn't in the top 50 which is disgraceful since that's his job

Taylor was our best prop by some distance - when he's in shape and motivated he's an absolute force. A future international if he wants to be.

I think Flower is very good though - he has a surprising step that usually hurts the opposition. He'll made a positive impact now that he's returned - the bench suddenly looks much stronger.

You can just tell Taylor won't fulfil his full potential. He's out of shape and blows too hot and cold for me.

He was at a club that could have taken him to another level and given him a pathway to the top but he decided to take the easy option. I hope the penny drops because his talent is huge.

He is our best prop

Given the abuse and world wide coverage of the incident I think that he deserved the welcome back. 100% the cheer back onto the pitch to show that the Wigan fans support him coming back into the team.

Ain't you missing the point that he caused all this. He's on sky saying he didn't deserve the standing ovation he got as he let everybody down.

A couple of questions

1) Do you think it would have been more appropriate if he'd been booed when he came onto the pitch?

Given that his punishment had been served and that the player had expressed genuine remorse - and given that no serious injury had been done to his victim anyway - would it really have helped anyone, or even have been morally correct, to continue the punishment by treating the guy like dirt?

2) Would it have been possible for the crowd to just remain indifferent to his return?

That might have been the most politically correct response, but in reality - when the world's press had massively overblown the incident in order to use it against RL as a whole and in fact were there again hoping for more of the same, and thus creating a backs to the wall mentality - there was no chance the Wigan fans could have pretended nothing unusual was happening.

All clubs have players who tarnish the game's image. A St Helens fan ought to know that better than anyone. Emotions often run high in these situations. Masses of hot air gets blown. Unless the offender clearly indicates that his judgement will always be poor, that he won't learn from his mistakes - a la Hock - you're going to show solidarity with the guy when he's fully repented. That's human nature. It's not some kind of Wigan quirk.

And...


3) Do you honestly believe that the reactions of fans of any other club would have been any different in the same situation?