After watching the ridiculous sending off of Tony Puletua on Friday I cant help think the powers that be are taking all the njoyment out of rugby league. Looking back there have been some shocking decisions for players been sent off all for things that have made this great game the spectacle that it is. Tonys shoulder charge, great hit. Sam Moa was sent off earlier in the year for something similar. The fight v Saints, three sent off ruining a spectacle when 10 minutes to cool off would suffice. I wouldnt be surpised to see us follow yawnion next season and ban the shoulder charge. Playrs will be afraid to make big hits at this rate and give it five years we'll be playing touch and pass. We try to market the game then punish the players when the things the fans love to see get players sent off and suspended/fined. These incidents are what has made a great game what it is. You dont see this level of sanitation in the NRL and certainly not in Origin. Im keeping my fingers crossed the powers that be wake up and see they are ruining our great game......but I wont hold my breath.

The Puletua red just shows how differently things are looked at in the NRL and Superleague. Greg Inglis put one of the biggest shoulder charges I've ever seen yesterday morning on a St George player and he had to be stretchered off. it was put on report. Was a perfectly legal hit for me, just unfortunately the player had been tackled from behind which lowered his body a bit, so by the time Inglis got there he made contact with the head by accident. The problem is with these sort of hits though is if it goes wrong someone will get seriously injured and careers ended so I can see why they need to be careful, but I hope we don't go down the union route of banning shoulder charges as when they are used properly they are great to see.

There wasn't anything wrong at all with that challenge on Friday, the elbow came up after the hit, absolutely garbage decision. Hopefully it gets sending off sufficient, doubt they'll over rule it all together.

inglis will get a 3 game ban for that yesterday and i am surprised he wasn't red carded as was the commentators, and they have been red carding that all season. a tackler should be responsible in the tackle and putting you shoulder at full force into someone's head isn't controlling a tackle. i love a shoulder charge as much as any one else but a LEGAL one and when contact is made with the head it is no longer LEGAL. Tommys rib cruncher at knowsley road was TEXT book

he wasn't sent off for an elbow he was red carded for the shoulder making contact with the face.

That makes it an even worse decsion then.

another example is the Mcilorum sending off at Bradford. Gets caught with an elbow retaliates with a single punch and gets a straight red. This is rugby league, its a brutal sport at times but this is what we love. Big hits, a bot of biff and breathtaking rugby skills. Its a combination of it all that makes the game yet the first two seems to be slowly being managed out of the game. It needs to stop

SOO should be the benchmark for all Rugby, not just talent and skill but the way it's reffed, it's perfect. You could even have a one fight incident per game rule, players binned if a second fight incident breaks out and dish a red out for a third fight.

Bring back the biff

Nrl every tackle is shoulder high (ish) and brutal .And the play just continues which is excellent tv , superleague where not aloud give good legal hits , not aloud challenge for the ball in mid air , no more biff or they get banned , we ll be playing tick rugby next !!!

Completely agree with the OP.

Fridays game and the Wigan v Saints game a few weeks back left me pretty jaded with the current state of affairs.

Not quite sure what they are trying to achieve.

All the non RL fans in my work love to watch all the fights and big hits on you tube. Its is one way of bringing fans to our sport

It was a head shot and should be a penalty. If we are to send people off for that sort of tackle then every head shot should be a sending off as well.

Has anyone actually seen the Inglis incident, WHAM!... love this game.

shoulder to the head isnt a penalty though, or never used to be, its a big hit.

Shoulder on head is a penalty if it's first contact on the head. You are allowed to shoulder charge as long as the first contact is not with the other players head.

Should be penalise for going in with your head down IMO, it's just as dangerous as someone going high on you, and far more stupid.

Spectacular hit at full speed. Absolutely no thought of preservation, sadly for Young he didn't see it coming at all and was falling into Inglis' shoulder (which was too high for a man of Young's size anyway really, which will probably lead to the ban) hence the near-flip. Awesome to watch though.

somebody stumbles, what about then?

Accidental, play on.

Have absolutely zero interest in the NRL but I'm pretty sure a lot of games in this country would be played with greater intensity if the players were routinely allowed to slap each other about a bit more.

I have little experience of sanitation at most super league clubs, the DW seems nice enough, I can hold on long enough at most grounds not to use the toilets until I'm home TBH.

TP incident was a penalty for a high tackle. end of.

im not sure how a shoulder ca be worse than a swinging arm? you have more time to measure where your arm will land

[urlhttp://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/all-nrl-club-doctors-unite-to-ban-shoulder-charge/story-e6frexnr-1226432244735[/url

Seems not everyone in the NRL likes the shoulder charge

TP - Penalty nothing more.

GI - Penalty and a red card.

I'm undecided on this. When a shoulder charge is performed "properly" and the shoulder makes contact with the torso of the the attacking player then it's awesome and the fans love seeing it. Too many of the attempts are hitting players in the face and head, though. Player welfare isn't over sanitation, we don't want to see serious head injuries, broken jaws/eye sockets just because a big hit looks impressive.

Correct