Former Super League referee Richard Silverwood has weighed in Thursday night’s incident involving Sam Lisone and Olly Russell. Leeds Rhinos ran out comfortable winners over Huddersfield Giants at the John Smith’s Stadium, but the result could have been very different had Lisone been penalised at a pivotal point of the contest.
Carrying the ball into the Huddersfield defensive line, the forward could be seen to lift his non-ball carrying arm as Russell made initial contact. As such, the former Samoa international’s elbow appeared to forcefully strike Russell in the face before he was eventually stopped in his tracks by the Giants.
Referee Marcus Griffiths failed to act at the time, allowing play to continue and with Russell getting back to feet immediately, once the next play the ball had been completed, the video referee was rendered powerless and unable to intervene. The incident was placed on report, but no action was taken during the game and Leeds went on to power home to victory.
It’s something that has led pundits to call for a Super League rule change, while Huddersfield’s interim head coach Luke Robinson outlined his belief that the incident, which came just before Leeds’ third try, helped swing momentum in the Rhinos’ favour.
However, Silverwood, who retired from refereeing in 2016 after 15 years officiating in Super League, failed to see what the uproar was about.
“Nothing in the Lisone for me,” he wrote on X. “Arm is tucked in on impact then it comes up.”
The incident will no doubt be looked at by the disciplinary panel in the coming days and a decision will be made about whether Lisone’s actions warrant retrospective punishment.
The result was Brad Arthur’s first in charge of Leeds, who now sit just two points shy of the play-off spots in the Super League table. The Rhinos take on Salford Red Devils next time around and they’ll fancy their chances of building up a head of steam
