Which 3 games?

Two friendly and the brisbon one

Two friendly and the brisbon one

Trying to work out which games count & what don't is probably why it's a period ban.
Perhaps they realised what a bunch of idiots they looked when Westwood's ban last year included a meaningless friendly against Italy. Instead of a punishment, all they handed him was a bit of a cushy rest.

The RFL have confirmed how many games it is. 2 friendlies, 10 SL games and a world club series game against Brisbane. 13 games.

6 Months ?

I bet Oscar Pistorious gets less for murder

With the game being the GF, the wordwide (yeah what's that about) attention it's received, and all the talk of GMP getting involved the RFL had to show people that it had dealt with this appropriately.

Most people won't disagree with the punishment, some softcocks will argue it should be more and the odd one-eyed muppet will think it too strong.

All considered i think it's the right decision, if this had been Leigh v Fev at the LSV mid season though it would have been a 3 game ban if that and a small fine.

It is time to change the disciplinary procedure and put in place clear and transparent procedures and stop this making it up as they go along attitude.

If it'd been games & not a period, we could legitimately have increased the off-season friendlies, persuaded Kear to retrospectively include him in the Welsh squad, loaned him out on dual reg & double counted 'til the cows came home.
At least we'd be accused of setting out to do all that.

Ban should have started at beginning of next season. rfl copout!!

McManus at Saints has said the same about consistency i.e. not making it up as you put it. A bit ironic considering LH got off with a 1 match ban when other players have got 3 or 4 for similar.

Waaahhh!

I shouldn't let it and I'd like to separate it totally to Flowers moment of madness but Hohiha's punishment is really grating on me. It was a shocker in itself and he's got off very lightly. I also didn't like the tone of his interview after the game where he said he held no grudges against Flower and mentioned how bad Flower must be feeling whilst not holding his hands up at all to playing a major part in the incident.

I think Flower can count himself reasonably lucky but so can Hobiha.

He still wouldn't have been able to play in any friendlies and just counted two against the ban - he also said previously he wasn't available for Wales so 6 months or 13 games makes no difference.

The RFL have gone for 6 months to try and appease the outrage junkies on Twitter, here etc. as they'll be too thick to realise what it means.

Have some humility....

Just playing devils advocate here, but say the police press charges against Flower. Where do you draw the line? Technically Hohaia would have been arrested if he had (got caught) elbowing someone in the face and charged with battery as would Flower. They may have differing sentences but each incident was outside of the rule of the game and would have been deemed illegal if happened off the pitch. There are other incidents which could be charged with higher than battery and so could be tried for ABH and in a few select incidents, GBH.

It opens up a whole can of worms where any incident outside of the rules of the game could have the police asked to press charges because it would be deemed illegal if on the street.

I agree it would start with Wigan supporters phoning about Wood on Petty a few weeks ago and it would just be a farce. It would go tit for tat and in the end it could kill the game in this country as no player would want to play given the risk. Punching someone is a criminal offence regardless of circumstances.

RFL need to look at itself as what LH got is a joke given the intent and contact area. You will be guaranteed next season a player will do the same and get 3-4 games.

I think it's a good response from McManus.

He does make a lot about inconsistencies and he is right.
Westwood in last year's GF with a 1 match ban.
More recently Wood 1 match ban, Walmsley 1 match ban after sending off. Far too light IMO.

I take the view that the RFL knew all along what they are doing. 6 months sounds an age for PR purposes but in reality it's 10 SL games which is about right IMO.
I've never thought friendlies should be included anyway.

McManus I don't think used the word review but that's what he appears to be getting at.

IMO the 11 games he will serve is pretty harsh.

If Flower is banned for "6 months" does this mean Hohaia is banned for "4 months"?

Surely if you rugby tackle someone in the street you too could get done for assault?

Will the police be intervening in games after players have been tackled?

Absolute load of old pony, IMO Newton on Gilmour/Long was worse but back then we didn't have social media as prominent as now. Police? FFS!!!????

I would agree tackles are technically battery as well, but in that case there is consent there and it is within the rules of the game. Still, incidents such as high tackles are outside of the rules of the game and so there is no consent. Most of which I would imagine are accidental but then again where do you draw the line and how do you differentiate? What happens when someone makes a high tackle "look" accidental ...

disagree, I think Lances assault on Flower was similar to Newtons and got a 1 match ban. He has been looked upon lightly because he got pasted.Flowers was a bad one and totally un defendable but 6 months is crazy when you look at the season on the whole. Wood got 1 game for hitting Eddie 3-4 times without provocation.

If the Police became involved the game could be end up on a slippery slope - in reality we have seen head butting, homophobia and head attacks in the past season - all illegal out on the street. It would appear inconsistent to enforce the law against some but not others.

If Flower then claimed he was acting in self defence (after all he suffered an attack to the head with Hohaia charged as supporting evidence) then more than one player will be in the dock. Could be a can of worms and will not go any further.

That takes it to a new level. Did you see Newtons assaults on first Gilmore and then Long? The latter had facial surgery and still has eye problems. IMO they were far worse than Flowers because they were deliberate attempts to injure.

Back on the topic Eamon's statement hopefully begins to close this hysteria and certainly had a positive impact on the 5 Live coverage.

Looking forward to good game on GF.

I read the McManus statement tonight on my phone (I love Rugby League site) whilst out having a couple of pints and I think it was a statement that showed compassion and in a way seemed to suggest that we now put it behind us and move on.
What I am going to say now is not condoning what Flower did and he deserved everything he got, but the build up to the match contained more use of the word hatred than I have ever seen in my 60 years of watching Rugby League ( mainly Wigan).
The die was set when Wigan and Wane gave permission for [uTHAT[/u video to be released and it built and built from there and even last week McManus had an article printed in a Newspaper in which he said that he hated Wigan.
It was almost as if there was a concerted effort to build it up to a frenzy, the word hate was in all the papers as well as being mentioned on a regular basis on Radio and TV.
Now I think it is time for Wigan to say that in hindsight the Video was out of place and the word hate has no place in the game, fans will always say that they hate other clubs, but in my eyes that it is not something Clubs should be saying.