Jon Wilkin calls for rugby union approach after shocking red card

The controversial red card shown to Nu Brown of Hull FC has led to pundit Jon Wilkin to suggest a new way in which match officials police incidents.

Brown was sent off for accidental head contact with Warrington’s Ben Currie and the initial response from Wilkin saw him on an absolute tirade with the ex-St Helens skipper disgusted at the decision.

Labelling it a “shambles”, he said: “If that’s a red card, there’s ten red cards in the first half. We just saw Leon Hayes carrying the ball and get hit in the head twice.

“There is a real mismatch between wanting to protect the players and reduce head contact, and then the application of the rule and that’s sloppy application.”

Those were Wilkin’s half-time assessments live on Sky Sports before he almost stormed off but come the end of the game, in which Warrington ran out as 36-10 winners in due to the man advantage, Wilkin offered up a possible solution.

He argued: “Just give a penalty for that, right? That discourages players to make contact with their head.

“Then if it’s anywhere near bad, give a yellow card, right? Put the guy in the bin, and then when he’s in the bin, review it and really scrutinise it, and if there’s nothing in it, let him come back on. If it’s bad, convert it to a red card.”

That’s a very similar principle to rugby union where cards will be reviewed whilst a player is in the sin bin and they can be upgraded to a red if there is enough evidence.

That speeds up the play of the game and ensures that the review is proper and thorough, as opposed to officials rushing to a decision to maintain the continuity and flow of the game.

Wilkin sympathetic with referees but slams “sloppy” interpretation of rules

Despite his disgust at the red card, Jon Wilkin was actually keen to explain that referees aren’t at fault and they’re simply following the new laws of the game.

Many fans were quick to call out Marcus Griffiths for the red card but under the current laws, as ridiculous as they are, Brown did make contact with the head and therefore was sent off.

Wilkin explained: “Let me say this, being a referee is incredibly difficult. I think they do a fantastic job. I think what Robert Hicks and the game are trying to put in place to protect players’ welfare is absolutely right. I’m all behind it.

“But the execution of this is really important and the execution of the rules tonight was really bad and that builds animosity towards the actual purpose of this, which is to protect the welfare of players.”