Jon Wilkin raises questions about match turning decision for Leeds Rhinos

Leeds Rhinos‘ new signing Paul Momirovski and opponent Ryan Brierley were both sent to the sin bin in a game against Salford.

Momirovski, who was making his debut on the night, was sin-binned after an extended delay during which the new bunker system assessed a tackle.

The centre was defending his own line when Ryan Brierley passed it to Chris Atkin, and Momirovski stepped in to make the tackle. Referee Aaron Moore initially gave a scrum, but then there was a long delay as the officials scrutinized Momirovski’s tackle. It took seven looks for a decision to be reached, with the officials under pressure due to the new rules.

Although Momirovski did not seem to make contact with the head, Atkin went off for a Head Injury Assessment, and his head rocked back from the contact. The officials decided to sin-bin Momirovski for ten minutes, considering the circumstances.

However, this was not the last yellow card in the game and arguably the last was the most important. Amir Bourouh was sin binned in a moment that allowed Leeds to level matters 16-16 and then later exploit the man advantage with Sam Lisone scoring the winner.

In this moment, questions were raised by Sky Sports pundit Jon Wilkin was raised. He pointed out the involvement of Leeds player James Donaldson:

“Without a doubt Bourouh is getting a bit of a facial from James Donaldson but Bourouh was deemed to have been illegally slowing the play the ball down. But every team in the league does that.”

Leeds Rhinos the latest player to feel wrath of new rules

The former NRL winner has become the seventh player shown a card in the 2024 Betfred Super League season.

In the big opener between Hull FC and Hull KR, Herman Ese’ese was the first player to feel the wrath of the new rules for a high shot when he was sin binned.

Then Franklin Pele felt the full force as he was sent off for a swinging arm. Ligi Sao was also sent off and Matt Parcell was sin binned.

In the game at Headingley, Ryan Brierley was sin binned for a high tackle on good friend Brodie Croft whilst over at the game between Leigh Leopards and Huddersfield Giants Ricky Leutele was win binned for a late hit.

Since Momirovski’s dismissal, Amir Bourouh of Salford became the eight player carded.