Leigh Leopards star Kai O’Donnell has been hit with a mammoth ban for his dangerous tackle against York RLFC.
He was red carded in the Challenge Cup quarter-final against York on Sunday.
Last night’s tribunal saw O’Donnell given his six match ban and a £1,000 fine.
Meanwhile, teammate Zak Hardaker appealed his one match ban for a dangerous through against York in the Challenge Cup.
Hardaker was yellow carded after a tackle on AJ Towse in the Challenge Cup clash as Leigh were reduced to 11 men for 10 minutes in the clash.
The tackle was seen as a Grade C dangerous throw by the Match Review Panel.
Hardaker appealed the subsequent one match ban at last night’s tribunal. The appeal though was unsuccessful.
Lastly, Hull FC star Josh Griffin has been suspended for seven games and fined £1000 after being found guilty of a Grade F offence of ‘questioning the integrity of a match official’ by an Independent Tribunal as confirmed by the RFL and Hull FC.
But how did rugby league fans react?
Starting with O’Donnell, one of the main talking points was the fact many fans were surprised that last week Hugo Salabio of Wakefield Trinity got a worse ban for a similar tackle and one that was perhaps less dangerous than O’Donnell’s.
Less games than Salabio 😂😂 Absolute joke of a board. If I was Wakefield I’d be on the phone immediately to appeal based on that. Disgrace. https://t.co/jlYVjdkEFN
— Joe (@JL1894) June 20, 2023
However, it was quite rightly pointed out that Kai O’Donnell’s good disciplinary record likely saved him from a longer ban.
As much as I was expecting more myself, think people have to consider, Kai has a good disciplinary record, that the York player got up straight away (no injury) and the fact it was clearly not done with intent. https://t.co/Ez5KImYArY
— Lucy (@leyland_lucy) June 20, 2023
Equally another fan pointed out the lack of intent behind the tackle.
for all the moaners in the comments. was very clear that there was no intent, with the york player twisting in the air taking it out of kai’s control. player got straight up not injured – o’donnell very apologetic. was maybe expecting more but think 6 is fair enough https://t.co/SNYAAo46BD
— Jacob Farrimond (@farrimond_jacob) June 20, 2023
That said other’s still branded it as “extremely lenient.”
https://twitter.com/BenDTReid/status/1671237888330158083?s=20
Turning to Hardaker, the main focus there was the fact he avoided a frivolous appeal and an added game. This was likely due to the fact he only challenged the grading however.
Should have been a frivolous appeal and got more, 1 match for that tackle is ridiculous!!
— Sharon Spencer (@SLSpencer69) June 20, 2023
That’s surely a frivolous challenge! Lucky he wasn’t sent off
— Callum Richardson (@Cumbo7) June 20, 2023
One fan felt he should have had more games for the offence.
Could easily have been more games
— James Pearson (@JamesPearson25) June 20, 2023
Lastly, the main talking point around Josh Griffin was surprise that he got more games than O’Donnell:
Griffin 7 games O’Donnell 6 games
Unbelievable 😳 that Griffin got more than someone that could have done some real damage
— Rob Warburton (@Rwarby2001) June 20, 2023
