On paper, a 36-10 scoreline would make it seem that Warrington Wolves comfortably beat Hull FC last night and the reaction could be about a brilliant performance, but sadly FC were the victims of another shocking red card which ruined yet another game.
It was reminiscent of the round one game between Castleford Tigers and Hull FC when the champions ran out as easy winners following a difficult first half.
The turning point in that game was the controversial Liam Watts’ red card, which subsequently saw a four-game ban, and for Hull FC it was the sending off of Nu Brown when scores were level 6-6.
Brown’s red card for Hull FC has been the focus of all post-game reactions with fans unanimous in the fact it should not be a red card, but sadly under the controversial new rules then it is.
Sky Sports presenter Brian Carney has since claimed that the game faces an “existential threat” if players will be sent off for such incidents, Brown having made slight head contact with Ben Currie after being spun around into the Warrington man’s direction.
Whilst Carney was impassioned about the incident, pundit and co-host for last night’s game Jon Wilkin was absolutely seething.
“A mind-blowingly bad decision” – Pundit goes off on Hull FC red card
Rather than discussing a well-fought forty minutes by a very inexperienced Hull FC side the half-time talk revolved around Brown’s send-off, something that angered pundit Jon Wilkin live on Sky Sports.
He told Carney: “It’s a shocker. It’s an absolutely mind-blowingly bad decision. And you’re right, it’s damaging, because what do I want to talk about here, Brian? I want to be talking about Hull FC’s young players, Brian, who have come to Warrington against Sam Burgess’s men and put in a performance that they should be proud of.
“But we can’t talk about that because of the way that that send-off has impacted them again.”
Wilkin also highlighted the lack of consistency in decision-making as he argued that if Brown should see red then Josh Thewlis could have easily seen red for his head contact when trying to prevent a try.
Wilkin argued: “You can’t choose when you apply them. Josh Thewlis should be off then, there are about 10 to 12 genuine contacts with the head. Now that was the least ferocious and the least obvious of all of them and he gets sent. Come on! Come on!”
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