According to Hetherington someone in the media asked Silverwood if he'd heard anything, and he said no. Then it appears in his report later. Assuming said media person is willing to stand up and say that's what happened, Silverwood's evidence would be tarnished at best wouldn't it?

After all this isn't some minor infringement we're talking about, Silverwood would know that such an accusation could lead to a very long ban, for Hardaker in particular. thie idea that he somehow 'forgot' Hardaker said something so depply offensive that it has exploded the twitterverse and then recalled it very soon afterwards is nonsensical.

Oh dear....it's normal practice for someone else to point this out, if in fact it happened. Doing it yourself "smacks of desperation"........you really aren't very good at this at all, are you!

This is the VT. He's not trolling. Hardaker's continued appalling behaviour and his apologists are cringeworthy.

so why does a lot of foul play go unpunished?
why did brough not get charged for calling bentham a cheating wa*ker which bentham missed but sky picked up?

its the way the RFL pick and choose who to charge which is the problem

you have decided he is guilty already then? well done. no bias there then

Simple question for you. Did you support the FAs charging of John Terry on racial abuse charges over the incident with Anton Ferdinand?

As you're probably a Leeds United fan I'll guess that it's almost certain that you were glad that the FA charged Terry and found him guilty. But there was many, many areas where the case against Terry was massively flawed. The FA stitched him up pretty much because the FA and the people wanted him stitched up.

If you were happy that Terry was found guilty and don't care about the problems with the case then I'd ask why you're now so principled over the procedures of the RFL. I'd hazard a guess that the reason you're so vehement is that it's one of your players. If this was an investigation into a Saints or Wigan player you'd probably want him investigated.

rubbish. absolute pile of rubbish. don't assume what i'm thinking.

terry was stitched up. no doubt about it whatsoever.

as for the hardaker thing my opinion is no matter who the player or team then this is a witch hunt and the RFL have made an absolute farce of things.
as i have just mentioned on southstander cunningham was rightly cleared of a drugs charge despite the fact he should have been charged, athletes are responsible for what goes into their bodies however in this exceptional case common sense prevailed and he was rightly absolved

But he was investigated.

No one has been charged.

Stating the RFL have made a farce is rediculous. A farce of what investigating the incident? It's not finished any investigation so how can it be a farce yet?.

It's just standard messages being put out as a pre-defense. I'm sure if he is charged then you will still calling a farce, because it will not be the outcome you want. The entire post is based on the result you want.

If it's a witch hunt were is the witch. To me it's a talking point that has to be addressed. If the RFL ignored the incident they would be deemed to be ignoring it which would also not be credible.

Same as if you see an incident on the street and report it and the police refuse to attend because they don't believe you.

You seriously can't see how the RFL have made a right balls up of the whole thing?

They've decided to ''investigate'' hardaker on the back of an internet storm at which point silverwood has suddenly ''heard something'' despite saints players being in closer proximity and hearing nothing untoward. They've then gone public before any charge has been filed putting both hardaker and actually silverwood in a bad position. They've then apparently brought a lip reader into the proceedings which is pointless if silverwood ''heard something'', right? which he apparently didn't see fit to report after the game.

The whole things a complete clusterf*ck.

But all anyone can see is - well he said x before and it looks like he said y again on the recording so the RFL are right to investigate, what's the problem?

It's telling that people stick the boot into the RFL on here over literally anything, but funnily enough in this instance they are a beacon of integrity and professionalism and are saving the competition billions in sponsorship money over an incident that, actually, no one was widely aware of until they made it public.

Now because of the balls up they've initially made the whole dirty mess will play out right in the public eye.

You have to hand it to the RFL, many people couldn't achieve such incompetence if they tried.

So they should not investigate and let everyone assume that they will not investigate at any point when the season becomes to critical.

ie we will be against discrimination when it suits us, but we are not really a sport that takes it seriously when the key games are about to start.

No, no no, I'm not saying any of the above. It's getting quite frustrating that because leeds fans are unhappy with how this has been handled they suddenly condone homophobia.

The point is, from the outside looking in, it seems like the RFL took it upon themselves to investigate this thing despite no report initially being made. You would assume that as no report was initially made, hardaker didn't actually use the word some are accusing him of. Otherwise it would have been reported. A bunch of rugby league fans lip reading a poorly angled video clip is meaningless. Yet ''something'' has now belatedly been reported, seemingly after the RFL took to upon themselves to investigate. Which if that report is reliable theres no need for a lip reader.

Leeds are a well run club, they will know the ins and out's of internal procedures so they won't have questioned the thing without considerable deliberation etc.

If a saints players was treated with the same dodgyness you would not be happy.

So there was in an internet storm over something that no one was widely aware of?

lol. Reporting something in the media is a whole different kettle of fish to something being on forums.

but, how would it be on the forums or be an "internet storm" if no one was aware of it?

Think FlexWheeler needs to put his dummy back in his mouth.

Tbf everyone does hate Leeds though

Trust me we've had our fair share of plonkers over the years.

If it was a Saints player who said something previously and was caught on camera saying something similar again. Then I would expect nothing less than raised suspicions.

But I think we are all assuming the investigation will find against. It's entirely possible it won't, but saying they should not investigate even if it is off the back of a public discussion is in my opinion naive.

MP's have been removed from office for the public outcry. Here he has not been suspended or even cautioned. Simply an investigation.

I have a question that I don't believe has been raised on this. Why did Leeds state that they approached the match commisionner straight after the game to ask if anything had been said when this didn't break as a news story until later in the week?

Were they aware of the incident being a possible issue before the game ended?

Again another with the wrong facts, it's was the media who asked the match commissioner.

But you just keep twisting it.

I stand corrected. I read the article again and got it right the second time. you are right, it was the media. You are however very wrong about me twisting it.

Sorry but if you make comments on non truths be it on purpose or by mistake you are just twisting it.

just like all those people who have said Hardaker has defo said p*ff???? A non truth and people twisting it based on opinion.

It's taken a pro lip reader being involved for newly a week, the RFL still have nothing. Not enough to stop him playing on Friday.

Homophobic abuse directed at the referee against Warrington on the 30th May didn't prevent the serial miscreant from playing a week later against Leigh in the CC on the 6th June. He was found guilty and banned for 5 games on the 10th of June.

Correct but the RFL told us they had a lip reader involved from Tuesday. Surley by friday there would have been a conclusion? Probably watching the reply for 10 mins should be enough for a pro lip reader you would think.

If the RFL had the verdict before friday and it is to ban Hardaker Wigan fans should be outraged regardless if they won.

The RFL told us? Are you sure about that?

Because I thought it was the Leeds Rhinos who accused them of employing a lip reader and the RFL refused to comment.

A lot of ass-umptions in your post above. If it takes 2 weeks, 3 weeks, a month ... so what? The longer it takes, the better for Leeds because if he is guilty of homophobic abuse again, he'll be gone for the rest of the season.

The Leeds club of 10 years ago would have sacked the serial miscreant last November. Standards have clearly slipped dramatically at the club because they didn't even sack him in June when they definitely should have.

I bet Matty Smith was pleased as punch (rather than outraged) that he played on Friday.