Hull KR hooker Matt Parcell has been handed a one-game ban for the actions that saw him receive a yellow card in round one meaning he’ll miss Thursday’s game against his former club Leeds Rhinos.
Earlier today Hull KR head coach Willie Peters had told the media that he didn’t believe Parcell should be banned as he labelled the incident “silly” as opposed to “reckless”.
“I don’t think it’s a suspension. I think getting 10 minutes and then whatever they come up with, I think is suitable. I think it’s enough,” Peters explained, presumably referring to a fine when stating “whatever they come up with”.
Instead though the New Zealander has been hit with a Grade B charge that has seen him banned for Thursday’s match for “other contrary behaviour”.
Peters himself hadn’t believed there was any malice, stating: “It was silly more than anything. It wasn’t reckless and it was a bit of a facial.”
The incident came late on in the clash against Hull FC with Parcell seeming to shove his hand into Ligi Sao’s face, the Hull FC player then reacted by thrusting his knee into Parcell’s head.
For that, Sao saw red and he has now been banned for three games and fined £250 for what was classed as a Grade D charge.
“We don’t want to go overboard” – Hull KR head coach calls for common sense on cards
Hull KR head coach Willie Peters told the media he didn’t think Matt Parcell deserved a ban. – Picture by Olly Hassell/SWpix.com – Copyright: x xSWpix.comxt/axPhotographyxHubxLtdxOllyxHassell/SWpix.comx SWP-2360-0031
The first round of Super League saw 13 cards with nine yellows and four reds which has resulted in a whopping 16 charges by the Match Review Panel.
Of those 16 offences, three will head to tribunal where the likely ban will be four to six matches whilst a further three bans of two or more matches have already been handed out.
Willie Peters spoke about the huge number of cards in relation to the sport’s new stricter rules and whilst he is all for player safety, he’s called for some calm.
“It’s one of those where we know if you get hit around the head, or if there’s swinging arms, so to speak, then they’re gonna be red cards or at least yellow cards,” Peters explained.
“What we don’t want to do is go overboard. I think it’s like anything, if you need to use cards because the evidence is there and that’s what needs to happen, then we keep using them, but we certainly don’t go to that.”
He also explained how the current weather and underfoot conditions have made tackling so difficult, adding: “I suppose my biggest concern is more around the grounds are wet at the moment. Players sometimes don’t have time. A bit of late footwork at the line, someone might be trying to isolate a player, but then they have a bit of late feet to go to another player and he doesn’t react or have time because he thinks he’s going into his next defender.
“Sometimes you can collide with heads and that type of thing. We can’t have cards for things like that, for accidents, but the refs will obviously make a call on that. We just need to be mindful that we don’t go overboard, but obviously player safety is number one.
“We all know that you can’t hit around the head. Every team would have worked on their tackle technique, but I just think we can’t just be going straight to a card. We need to look at it appropriately. I think that’s the main thing. We need to look at it and be consistent with how we’re moving things.”
He concluded by saying: “We just need to be mindful as well that it’s still a contact sport, it’s a physical sport, sometimes the players don’t have enough time to make a decision or react in a certain way because the time’s taken away from them and we just need to look at that as well.
“When there’s intent and there’s swinging arms, we’ve never been able to do that for as long as I can remember, you can’t hit a play around the head. So if you hit a player around the head and there is a swinging action or it’s looked at as reckless or whatever, then yeah, I think, yeah, referees are going to make a decision on that.”
