I guess they sign a waiver

UFC fighters all have to be insured for brain injury. I assume other sports are the same.

I don't think a waiver would hold up in court. It might even imply that the employer knows the risk and has failed to protect employees. If they worked then I bet all our bosses would make us sign them instead of forcing us to watch videos about picking up cardboard boxes.

(I'm an independent contractor and I have to watch the box videos every 3 months.)

Well there is an easy answer - tackle round the legs. Yes there would be more offloads and line breaks but the game can get boring to watch sometimes , this would liven things up a bit.
I know the game has moved on but when I played, we were coached to hit the waist and slide and lock the hands.

RFL exclusive Paul Cullen was thrilled to announce:

“Kane Evans makes history, making his home debut on the last day of the season”

Cullen was reported to have said, because of Evans record, his size, and the now long forgotten art of tackling aggressively, we have made great strides going forward, not only are we able to shove it up Hull again, but more importantly make pass holders consider any future investment in rugby league.

Hudds are likely to be virtually unchanged with only ikahihifo who failed his HIA missing from last week. Watson could go with Wilson who played the week before, club captain Lawrence or go with a bit more size in Mason, we have plenty of choice up front. I think this will be a very interesting match up with Hudds having some speed around the ruck and in the middle in Levi, pryce and lolohea whereas Hull lack pace in the middles but probably have a bit more pace out wide.
I expect watson to want to play a kick early and long game and get your middles turned around as much as possible in the first half.
lets hope the man in the middle is a bit more sensible this week but im not going to hold my breath.

Your are right. It’s a laughing stock. Having the best players sat in the stands for nothing is just what a marginal sport needs….!

That's the frustrating thing and the RFL can't see the damage its doing with the new officiating and disciplinary policies. No one is denying the need for player safety but there also has to be an acceptance that there are risks involved in a contact sport.
All I hear is Paul 'Cliche' Cullen spouting the same rhetoric every time and using the same handpicked incidents to argue the case about these have always been yellows, reds and suspensions. The ones he uses just about everyone agree those incidents have always been punished the same (unless you were Sean O'Loughlin of course

). What is ruining the game from being a watchable sport is the over zealous officiating and banning of players for what are incidents which are not malicious acts of foul play and are simply the consequences of players playing a tough physical game. Most of the yellows and bans are where a player has ducked, lost their footing or falling in a tackle and some contact is made with the head. I'm not sure how you yellow card a player for that or ban them for the very slightest little thing. Against Leeds Jack Walker made it look as though he had been knocked out as he laid motionless for about 3 to 5 secs which brought about the yellow for Evans but where was the HA for Walker as he carried on in the game.
People do not pay to see players sat in stands or sent from the field of play.
The current policy has brought in a worrying trend for gamesmanship by some players who now see this as an opportunity to gain an unfair advantage by acting to see a fellow player binned.

I agree with a lot of that, but I think that's unfair on Jack Walker. He did get hit hard and I've no doubt it shook him a little, but I don't feel like he milked it at all. He had a defender on him on the ground and didn't struggle to get up quick but as soon as the defender peeled away he got straight back to his feet.

I agree I don't think he milked at all and maybe using the word 'made' makes it read that way, the point I was trying make was that he went down and laid there for a few seconds as if/though he'd been knocked out then jumped straight back up, I think he probably did have a moment of birds flying round his head. The officials then decided Evans should be shown a yellow but I was surprised that Walker wasn't made to have a HA. I certainly don't think Walker did it intentionally but when you watch it, it just looks as though he is momentarily out then jumps to his feet (you see this a lot when people have this sudden quick moment of unconsciousness that they leap straight back up) and its that bit for me that should have lead to him having a HA as it looked a genuine pause not one of milking it. Had there been no pause I'm not sure that any action would have been taken in terms of yellow.

In that same game Fusitua takes Griffin out off the ball with a more deliberate attempt of a shoulder charge which is outlawed and gets nothing in the game or by the disciplinary yet both Evans and Prior yellows for contact that is a consequence of a contact sport nothing more and then get a ban to further add to things.

Manu might be back for hudds.

No other players to return. Guess that means no Lane this week

I get the feeling that we're a season or two behind the NRL in this whole area. Last year they had yellow cards galore and players accused of milking penalties. This season it looks so far as if it's been sorted barring a few teething problems where players haven't been taken off for HIAs quick enough.

Players get put on report instead of yellow carded. Of course bans get dished out but there's been relatively little noise about it yet in comparison with last year.

Same applies to the six again rule - they've re-introduced a penalty for offences in the opposition 20. It's got rid of a lot of the cynical holding down.

Seems we choose to go our own way over here rather than learning lessons already learnt.

Assuming the guys that had niggles last week (Satae, Savelio etc) are fit to play, I'd go for:

Connor
Swift
Vulikijapani
Griffin
Shaul
McNamara
Lovodua
Satae
Houghton
Fash
Ma'u
Savelio
Brown

Sao
Bowden
Johnstone
Wynne

It's still got a makeshift look about it, but it's really not bad. A decent forward pack, some good ball carriers and decent pace in the back line. Lovodua and McNamara will just keep it simple and try to supply Connor with good ball so he can work his magic. If we play with intensity then we can get a result.

Edit: Just seen Shaul is definitely out too, so probably Mitch on the wing, Wynne at centre and promote a young back to the bench to cover.

Saints and Catalan are far and away the best 2 teams, then Wigan, Wire, Hudds. and hopefully us. I see this game as a test of wether we’re good enough to make that six. Play with the same intensity as last week plus the extra days rests and we’ll be there or thereabouts but which FC is going to turn up.

I'm sure I've just read Lane might be available.

If so:
Connor, Swift, Griffin, Wynne, Mitch, McNamara, Lovodua
Sao, Houghton, Satae, Savelio, Lane, Brown
Fash, Bowden, Ma'u, JJ

If Lane doesn't make it then Manu starts with Severs on the bench.

IF and uts a big If, we get through this game and the Sheffield game injury/suspension free we should have Carlos, Mcintosh, Gale and Evans back against Wigan. Hopefully we can start to build some momentum

Probably the one that always lets us down at home when extra fans turn up because we played well and won the previous week

Both Lane and Manu included in the 21 with the comment from Hodgson that we will give them time.
based on that cant see either of them making it this week and if its that close then sensible not to risk further injury especially with Manu as we have seen with Carlos what trying to bring a player back too early from a hamstring injury does.

Did we try and bring Carlos back early?

yes pushed too hard in training

Round 6 Wigan v Cas. Fonua's sin bin what the feck is going on there?

Ridiculous.

Absolute disgrace the games knackered!

The yellow was so soft. Even the ball steal on Leuluai, he almost shot up when he thought the ref wasn't going to give a penalty.

Our new stand off is having a dig though. A try and an assist

Looking forward to what Radford has to say about it.

Mcgilvray found no case to answer
Same with fonua tonight but it cost Cas the game.
Big raps to Willie Isa for his reaction to that clothes line tackle.

As soon as I saw who the official was I turned it off, every game with Kendall get ruined with constant poor decisions, must be the worst ref I've ever seen. Luckily with him reffing tonight hopefully he won't be anywhere near our game on Sunday.