Hull KR coach hits out at signing’s disciplinary charge and calls for “common sense”

Hull KR head coach Willie Peters has hit out at the Match Review Panel over a charge handed to one of his new signings following the Challenge Cup clash with York Knights.

The Robins won that game with ease despite going 2-0 down to a Will Dagger penalty but their class prevailed as they ran out 44-2 victors.

It was a tasty affair though with that Will Dagger penalty coming off the back of a scuffle in back-field and Hull KR have since seen two players charged for their conduct in the match.

Man of Steel Mikey Lewis and new recruit Tom Davies have both picked up three penalty points for their Grade B charges of ‘Striking’ and ‘Head Contact’, one of which Willie Peters has no complaints over and another which he does.

“I’ve got no complaints out of one and then the other, I’m not overly convinced with the ruling on it,” Peters told the media in his press conference prior to the Robins’ season opener against Castleford Tigers.

Asked to expand, he picked out the Tom Davies one as the charge he disagreed with and made a call for “common sense” regarding accidental head contact.

Hull KR head coach calls for “common sense” after star’s disciplinary charge

Peters said: “There are accidents that happen in rugby league and I understand that we need to protect the player first, no complaints from that and we’ll do everything obviously to work with the RFL around that.

“But the framework in place doesn’t (account for) if there’s a slight accident, a slight slip and there is a head contact, then it’s (still) deemed as foul play because you’re getting points and eventually there will be suspension against that player.”

Speaking on the Davies incident, the Australian claimed: “There was no intent whatsoever. Tom doesn’t want to go in with his head or have that head collision himself because obviously he is potentially getting hurt as well. There’s going to be accidents in our game. It’s unfortunate, it’s a contact sport.

“I just think there needs to be a little bit of common sense around each incident to look at it and go, okay, was their intent? If there’s foul play, you won’t get anything from me.”

As an example of him accepting foul play, he conceded that the Grade B charge for Mikey Lewis was completely correct with the Man of Steel dealt with internally, but he underlined his issues with the Tom Davies charge.

Peters explained: “Mikey Lewis has owned his (charge) and we’ll keep that obviously in-house and we accept the points that he got and we move on but Tom’s is a totally different situation for me. There was no intent whatsoever, there was no malice in it. It’s rugby league and things are going to happen.

“If it was intentional, if Tom Davies led with his head and it was intentional, I’d be all for it -fine him, give him points, do whatever you need to do, because it’s outside the rules.”

The RFL are using a new disciplinary system this year where players pick up points per each offence with those points accumulating to then become bans. The system is designed to try and keep players on the field with bans less common and primarily aimed at punishing repeat offenders.

Because of their charges last week, both Mikey Lewis and Tom Davies start the season on three penalty points meaning they’re already close to the one-game ban threshold of six points.