Jake Connor becomes third player of the opening round to be shown a red card

As ever, the opening round of Super League has been full of talking points.

St Helens put the league on notice with a 28-8 win over last year’s league leaders Catalans, Wigan seemed back to their best against Hull KR and Leeds and Warrington served up a classic in the first ever Channel 4 game.

Salford even shocked Castleford at the start of their new era and Toulouse’s first season in Super League ended in defeat to Huddersfield.

But perhaps the biggest story has been the clamp down on high tackles. Three players have been shown red cards in the opening round starting with Dylan Napa on debut for Catalans. His tackle attempt made contact with the head and saw him dismissed whilst James Bentley followed in his footsteps two days later in his Leeds debut.

As Warrington looked to break, his desperation saw him connect with Gareth Widdop’s head. He was subsequently dismissed despite the fact Widdop was already heading towards the ground with referee Chris Kendall citing a clenched fist as the reason behind the decision to show red rather than yellow.

After those two, Jake Connor has now been shown a red in Hull FC’s clash against Wakefield. A shock inclusion after a recent broken hand, Connor has made headlines again for a swinging arm which saw him sent off. In times gone by it would perhaps been a yellow but these days under the new directive it’s unsurprising that it was a red.

It has perhaps given Wakefield a route back into the game with a Tom Johnstone try making it 16-12 in favour of the Black and Whites who led by 10 when Connor was dismissed.

He’s not the only person to receive a red today with one being shown in the Newcastle Thunder game as well.