How can you get away with just a caution for smacking someone in the face hard enough to fracture his eye socket? (according to teletext)

Play for Saints?

TBF it was just a tap - how he broke his eye socket is astonishing. Equally astonishing is how you can commit an illegal act with that result & get away with it.

Apparently, according to Saints fans, it was a pre-existing condition. He just was not aware of it. Cunnigham didn't do anything.

Looks like the RFL agree.

This is the same Keiron Cunningham who failed a drugs test but escaped a ban...........

he must have some good photos of the guys at Red Hall!!

But that wasn't his fault don't forget. It wasn't actually his body. Or something.

Regardless of how much damage he did, the cheap shot was there in close up for all to see. The league not banning him stinks.

But then, isn't it always the case with high profile players like him? Especially if they're due to play in any big games soon. It takes a pretty massive infringement for them to get any kind of ban.

To be fair, it was made worse by the alleged "fractured eye-socket" that is no longer an injury and could allow the guy to play at the weekend.


I think if he had been injured to that degree, KFC would not have got away with a "naughty boy letter".

It wasn't that bad and Peacock has got away with a lot more this year.

Sends out the wrong message i think, clearly visible on TV and a great opportunity to let people know it's not acceptable.

It looked like a 1 inch punch - deadly!

But he seems to have got away with cheap shots for most of his career

Had it been Newton, they'd have been calling for Sine Die. But hey ho...

Look i support Wakey - but i have to say what a load of nonsense this incident is. First off it was NOT a punch - how the hell can you clench your fist when there is a rugby ball in your hand???? My biggest concern is how our man reacted - like a footballer


Nothing broken - reports of fractures are a load of cobblers.
I hope he was genuinely hurt though otherwise i would be very disappointed if he was going down the theatrical route. Bit of egde is part of the game - if you dont like that go and watch a bit of ping pong.

He wasn't injured. Is due to play next week. That's how Cunningham got a caution - that and the RFL did not believe he intended to hit Stosic's eye.

Then he shouldn't have cheap shotted him.



Regardless of how hard he hit him and it not being a clenched fist due to having a ball in his hand, and whether he got injured or not, Cunningham DID cheap shot the guy. Quite clearly. A close up caught it. The RFL have made themselves a laughing stock by only cautioning it.

I'm not saying he should have got a 4 match ban or anything silly like that, but it deserved at the very least a fine or a match ban. A "please don't do that" is laughable.

As I said, I'd love to have seen their reaction had it been Newton!

Cunningham has never been a cheap shot merchant IMO. Hard & fair. It was a penalty & nothing more (which would have prevented a Saints try IIRC. If there was not the resultant injury claimed it has left the RFL looking stupid, but explains the caution only.
As Adey says, there would have been uproar if Newton had done it, but that's the price you pay for playing the game like Newton has.

Nothing like making a mountain out of a molehill.

but then its a Saints player. I'd expect nothing less.

What was he intending to hit then? Nose? Forehead? Jaw?

WHen his face was 6" away it's a pretty fair bet he was going to be close. Perhaps any drugs he may or may not have taken against his free will impaired his vision/judgement.

The seriousness of the injury should have no bearing on the punishment. It was an obvious and deliberate blow to the head which should be worth more than a caustion in my opinion.

But he was trying to not hit his head. And he was just trying to get the big naughty boy off him. So its ok.

I understand

Im struggling to believe this quote from Mick Potter " I saw there was nothing in it, He was just trying to get some space to play the ball"

I think this week, we should completely lay out Lincoln Withers with a massive illegal forearm to the head. That way there'll be one less player on the pitch and we've have more space to run.