Leigh Leopards head coach has hit out at the decision to show centre Ricky Leutele a yellow card with Adrian Lam arguing that decisions such as that will “cost someone a Grand Final at some point”.
Leutele was sent for ten minutes for a shot on Jack Welsby that was deemed high after being looked at by video referee Ben Thaler.
Lam has now seemingly called Thaler out as he explained that he was “really frustrated with the sin bin”, before stating: “Whoever is up in that box making that decision is just not on the same page as everyone else.”
In the ten minutes that Leutele was in the bin, Leigh saw their 12-0 lead disappear with St Helens scoring two tries to level the scores, however, Josh Charnley’s late try secured the 18-12 win and a play-off berth for Leigh Leopards.
Despite that top six spot being secured, Adrian Lam was very vocal about the decision to show Leutele a yellow in his post-match press conference.
Leigh Leopards boss on “unacceptable” sin bin
Credit: Imago Images
Adrian Lam would argue: “I’ve looked at that a hundred times, and there’s no way in the world should a player be sin-binned in for a tackle lower than shoulder height. It’s unacceptable.
“It’s going to cost someone a Grand Final at some point. Two tries were scored when that player was off.
“I don’t know what we need to do but that can’t happen again.”
Only two weeks ago, Hull KR saw their chances of victory against Wigan Warriors slip through their hands as Matt Peet’s side scored two tries during each ten-minute period that they had a man advantage.
That night, the decision to show Joe Burgess a yellow card and then the process over Jai Whitbread’s sin bin were both controversial and Leutele’s sin bin was no different.
Could Ricky Leutele be banned?
Credit: Imago Images
With a crucial play-off clash against Salford coming up, Leigh Leopards face an anxious disciplinary wait according to Sam Tomkins, however, Adrian Lam has rubbished talk of a ban as he once again critiqued the decision.
“I don’t really want to comment on that, but what I’m going to say about that is that it shouldn’t have even been a penalty. I think that explains everything else.
“Everyone on the field knew that. Every single person on the field. I think it just needs to be addressed immediately. We want to keep players on the field and not look for things to disadvantage a team.
“There was no head contact. There was no flexion of the head. What was there?”
Leigh will find out if Leutele or any other Leopards have been banned on Monday afternoon after the Match Review Panel meet.
