I agree totally - all we want is consistency from the RFL, which we didn't get last year. Morley and Carvell were both put on report the week before we played Wire at the beginning of the season for what in the Superleague Show highlights looked like horrendous head high challenges. Both let off when a 1 man match ban would have ruled them out.

Peacock nearly took Sam's head off in the CC Q/F and Senior kicked Joel in the face - both again let off - incidentally the same game that Farrell was sinbinned by Bentham for a supposed late challenge on Mcguire as he kicked. Coley was sent off for admittedly a high challenge against Catalans and was banned - the week before Wigan played Warrington in July, thus leaving Wigan's pack understrength against the Warrington heavyweights. Worse tackles imo by Morley and Carvell 5 months previously went unpunished.

Then Ablett almost takes Sam's head off at Headingley at the end of July - isn't punished by Ganson, but then Coley is sinbinned for an innocuous tackle on Burrow but deemed by Ganson to be late. Even Eddie disagreed with that sinbinning!

Fielden being banned for defending himself aginst Mason and Griffin in August when Mason stamped on his foot. How about James Graham's stamp on Pat's heel in the GF which went totally unpunished despite being seen by millions on TV? If that happened next month, should Pat go bleating to the ref à la Cry Baby Wilkin?

Is there a pattern emerging? Some of the challenges that Cunningham perpetrated in the last season or two should also have been punished - there was an appalling one in the game at DW in July.

Mr "I fancy myself as a media star" Wilkin may have opened up a can of worms which may come back to haunt him and Saints in future.

He obviously said all those thing to try and keep the punishment down - that should be obvious.

What that doesn't change is the fact you still don't believe he should be found guilty when the player himself admitted he should. As you can imagine I'm going with the player on this one, rather than a desperate fan crying like a little girl, making up conspiracy theories because we got a player banned.

Hey Fames, why don't you open up your own thread entitled 'Injustices done to Wigan 2011 season' and we can all keep track of them and make appropriate comment?

As gutting as it is that Lima won't be available for the WCC we just have to move on. I'm not sure that we're taking the right stance in being all prim and proper and not appealing any bans but if thats the way the club want to go then i'll back them. They are breading a 'no excuse' culture at the club were we take things on the chin and don't go around blaming all negative things on everyone bar ourselves and thats pleasing in a way so we'll just have to get on with it.

Suspension, Injuries, dodgy reffing decisions etc we'll take them all on the chin and take responsibility for our preformences. A certain club from over Yorkshire way could learn a few lessons in all this.

Let's take it on the chin and move on, like we do time after time, just like good little humble pie eaters.

I think it is mostly the Leeds fans that are like that (I could be wrong but last season when they were hit with injuries etc and sunk down the table- the players didn't blame anyone) and this thread is testament to Wigan fans being awfully similar for complaining.

The Leeds fans blamed injuries for losing. Theres one game gone and we havent lost yet so wheres the similarity? People are just stating they are gutted weve lost a 1st choice player for a massive game. Nobody is making excuses.

Having just re-watched the Soliola tackle I think pleading guilty was correct and if it were anybody else's player I'd be calling for a ban, so I don't think we've any grounds to complain. It certainly looks dangerous to me, his arm was in an awful position. We shouldn't be angry at the RFL, we should be angry at Lima for letting us down. If his statement to the disciplinary board is anything to go by he's either a liar or a liability.

All fans moan wheather it be Wigan fans, Leeds fans, Wire fans or Saints fans and at the end of the day it's our right and it has no real bearing on the mindset of our teams.

The difference with Wigan at the moment in terms of coaching staff and officials to 'some' other sides is that they don't go around making excuses for various things. They take it on the chin and move on. An example of a coach blaming anyone bar his own side is John Kear at the weekend. He blamed the ref for Wakeys poor preformence because he gave so many penalties in the game yet this is the same bloke that last season was crying out for Wigan to be clamped down on by refs during games because they were slowing the game down too much.

He should have been more careful what he wished for.

Intelligent input, darling!



Oh i thought you were referencing Leeds and Brian Mac last year



If you meant Wildcats, I do apologise.

You are right about the fans. I wouldn't begrudge any fans complaining a little bit (not too much- this thread about Lima's punishment may have gone too far and also an almost one hundred page thread on the shirts) As i said, i thought you meant Leeds moaned last year. At the start of the year when all their problems came, they didn't make excuses. Sinfield even said in the beeb they need to do better themselves and it was no one else's fault.

It is a good attitude to have. I would be disappointed if T.S used the injuries as an excuse for losing ( I am fairly certain he wouldn't though)

Leeds don't need to complain about bans or dodgby reffing decisions in the main as they get what they want in the main so theres no need to.

Hopefully our fans will move on from this now. We've lost him but we've all been saying how much depth we have in our squad and especially in the forwards so nows the time to prove it. Somebody made a very good point that with Lima being banned it will mean an extra place in the squad for a player that helped us achieve success in 2010 and thats nice in a way.

I have to admit that that's the one thing I genuinely don't understand. I really can't see anything wrong with that tackle having watched several times and, whilst I'm prepared to accept the guilty plea of the offender as proof that 'something' went on, for the disciplinary to comment that it was 'worse' just seems bizarre. Either I (and I suspect many others) don't know what a chicken wing tackle really is or, more likely, that particular instance wasn't a 'chicken wing' in the traditional sense but was more 'putting unneccessary pressure on the shoulder joint' or something similar. One thing I'm fairly convinced of after viewing both incidents is that they aren't the same tackle or, as far as I can tell, offence. Then again, maybe I'm wrong!

The suggestions about bias against Wigan and favouritism towards Leeds etc are remarkably childish (as they are when fans of any club start it). Anybody care to provide any actual evidence of said bias, other than their view about the treatment of their own player compared with somebody else? Opinions. Everybody has them, and the most biased people in the world are - lets face it - fans of each team.

I can't stand Jon Wilkin, but players know what's going on. If he felt it was a deliberate attempt to cause him some damage after being tackled then he has every right to complain to the ref or after the match. Players do it any time they get bitten as well (although sometimes they don't follow through).

One point that may (or may not) have been mentioned on here is that the wrestling/chicken wing stuff has long been complained about regarding the Storm - call it whingeing if you like but some very tough NRL players have publicly complained about the whole team on numerous occasions. I seem to recall quite a few comments about players 'hating' to play the Storm because it was felt they deliberately went out with the intent to cause seious injury to the opposition (chokeholds being another Storm favourite). I just wonder if part of this sentence was to warn Lima to leave that behind him?

Awesome. As if Lima's sentence wasn't enough, now we've got to tolerate being lectured by a Loiner, who just happens to be an Aussie as well.

Life doesn't get much better than this.

Some interesting comments from Madge in today's WEP, plus interesting comments on legal representation at the disciplinary panel - I won't post them on here though so as not to encourage the usual trolling!

This is rubbish but what everyone has to remember is he did two things. If he only did one then I would say the 2 matches would be extreme but he did two. He has a match ban for each in effect and that is not an unfair situation all things considered.

Read the post by Fames about 5 or 6 places above yours if you want some evidence.

is there really 17 pages on this????????

Yes, please do read what I wrote on a previous page!

Can Leeds, Saints or Wire fans actually quote any example of where one of their players may have been dealt harshly by either a referee or the RFL last year or where a Wigan player was dealt with leniently? I can only think of when Lockers may have been deemed to go high/late on Luke Robinson in the Huddersfield away game.

Contrast that with the list I quoted that Wandering Warrior is referring to - no doubt there would be others too. The 7/8 I quoted were off the top of my head.

And please don't say it's because Saints/Leeds /Warrington players never indulge in foul play....! As IL says, it's consistency that we all want. Let's see what happens when Morley, Bailey, Peacock, Wilkin etc commit an illegal challenge/dangerous attack to the head......

Given Lima was banned with the MINIMUM tariff possible for two offences he pleaded GUILTY to, I think some of the conspiracy theorists need to move on.

For a start I'm not an Aussie. I would like to thank the people who have responded to my (and others') post with 'evidence' that consists of again their views on the supposed leniency of the judiciary towards other clubs. Asking me or anyone else to provide opinions as to leniency in other cases as though it is some kind of 'evidence' of anything proves the point entirely.

The main things we need from the Disciplinary are transparency (and the fact the RFL publish findings is a good thing) and consistency. The RFL should go to the stage of putting in place the NRL system of using points rather than match bans etc. After every round in the NRL, players are charged with offences which are graded and given points. They can lessen points by pleading guilty or they can go to the tribunal and risk an increase (weighed against the chances of getting off). Players then accrue points over time, so a rookie would not necessarily face the same 'sentence' as other players for the same offence. The point is, whilst it's still judgement-based, everybody knows the score, fans and players alike. There are still disputes, but far less than we get in SL.

The RFL seems to use most of this system but not the points part. I don't understand why.

www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=21043 Murphy Wins appeal...

www.superleague.co.uk/article.php?id=21043 Murphy Wins appeal...

Just rewatched the Wilkin tackle and whilst it doesn't look as bad as the first one it's still a chicken wing.

Having said that, despite not buying into the conspiracy regarding Lima's charge and ban, rewatching the game has flagged umpteen dodgy decisions at crucial areas on the field...

Lima just needs to tidy his technique up. he did not have a lot of game time last year and he is adjusting to the speed or lack of compared to the NRL.