knockersbumpMKII wrote:
And if the Cats player is paralysed then what? Four games is ludicrous, it's penalising outcome, a worse outcome sees the full eight and for that recklessness it deserved eight. 'He's not that kind of player' is bs, he had a choice and opted for what we all know has horrendous outcomes if done.
RFL yet again failing safety of players.
If you think for a second that Morgan Knowles (or any other professional RL player) made the conscious decision to perform the tackle in that way you need to give your head a shake...and obviously have never played the game at any level or you would know that sometimes tackles can unintentionally go wrong.
Also, why shouldnt his previous record go for him? The lad is in his 4th season as a first team player and has no previous problems with the disciplinary panel. If he commits a further tackle like that one then yes I agree give him the 8 game,s but for a first ever offence I don't see what your problem is with 4 games.
And as for "the Cats player could have been paralysed", you could argue a similar point with a number of different tackles, yet common sense needs to prevail (again working on the assumption you have very little of this).
You hear stories about people getting punched in the head once and being killed by it, so what would you expect all players guilty of throwing a punch at another player (or even a swinging arm making direct contact with the head) to be given? After all, a blow to the head can cause death, severe brain damage or paralyse people (google it and I am sure you will see many news stories where this has happened) so what would you suggest for that? Same goes for bad technique carrying the ball...and players making contact with the head of an opponent with their elbow (although I am sure in that case Liam Watts just had bad technique and didnt deserve sending off/banning by your opinion). Speaking of Liam Watts, if you punished every bit of foul play judging it on "the worst possible outcome of what could have happened" he would probably be serving 3-5 life sentences somewhere by now for his list.
At the end of the day, MK made a mistake in the tackle and has received a 4 match ban and a red card for it. The week before, Paul McShane made a similar tackle on a Saints player (just that he landed in a different position) and was a penalty and nothing further. Both tackles "could" have paralysed the player so why isnt McShane serving an 8 match ban now? I will just find it interesting to see if all other spear tackles that are charged this year receive the same