Leigh Leopards boss calls for clarity on disciplinary rules after veteran’s three-match suspension and star’s “outrageous” charge

Leigh Leopards boss Adrian Lam has called on the Match Review Panel to rethink the charge that punishes players for making contact with a potentially injured player.

Lam’s Leigh copped a three-match ban over the weekend, with Jack Hughes set to miss the next few weeks for making contact with Bradford’s Chris Atkin.

The Leopards boss has slammed the ruling this week, labelling it a “nightmare.” It’s not the first time this season that the charge has been handed out, with Wigan’s Harry Smith, Leeds’ Lachie Miller and Castleford’s Semi Valemei all copping the same charge for incidents earlier in the year.

Valemei’s charge was arguably the most controversial of the three, with the Tigers winger still charged despite putting St Helens’ Noah Stephens in the recovery position after he appeared to be knocked out cold.

Obviously, rugby league players aren’t medical professionals, and the rule is there to prevent any further damage being done to the players. That being said Lam still thinks more needs to be done to provide clarity on the rules and what players can and can’t do.

Speaking to the press this week, he said: “That incident occurred just before half-time and it was [Chris] Atkin running the ball, but he slipped over and ran into Charnley’s knees and fell to the ground and Jack came over.

“He [Atkin] was holding onto the ball and Jack wanted a quick turnover, so he’s just shoving to get the ball off him. The issue was that the law is that you can’t put your hand or finger on any player that could potentially be injured so that was the dilemma – Was he injured? Is he playing around? Is he delaying time? All that sort of stuff.

“I’m not going to get into that one because that’s just a nightmare. We understand the ruling and we’re very supportive of protecting the injured player, but I think that needs to be looked at at some stage of this season towards the end and put some definite rulings around how that can be looked at differently because it’s just pretty heavy at the moment.

“I think a few clubs have been caught out on that so we’ve had a separate meeting this week just to show the clip and just say, listen, in these situations you’ve got to be very careful regardless of where your emotions are at or whether you think the player’s stalling for time or whether he’s genuinely injured. We have to support the law in this situation.”

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Bradford Bulls boss shows sympathy for Leigh Leopards man after three-match ban

Those comments were backed up by Bradford Bulls boss Kurt Haggerty, who were Leigh’s opponents on Sunday afternoon.

When asked about Hughes’ ban, the boss said in his weekly press conference: “It’s very difficult, because in this game and in this sport, the players that play each other know each other.

“So in those moments, you don’t mind helping your mates up off the floor, or somebody you’ve played with or played against for a very long time.

“It’s just such a grey area. It’s something we’ve not addressed as a group. If there’s somebody on the floor, just keep your hands to yourself.

“The thing is, if it’s so severe where you think you can help, you help them out, but otherwise, just don’t touch them.”

Asked if it was an unfair and harsh ruling, he replied: “Yeah, and unfortunately, where the game is at at the moment, it’s such a grey area. It’s not a rule that anybody likes.”

Adrian Lam blasts Match Review Panel after star’s “outrageous” charge

Lam had more to say about the disciplinary process this week, after he was keen to address the successful appeal of Edwin Ipape’s Grade B charge.

Ipape was hit with the charge and was awarded three penalty points and a fine, however that wasn’t enough to land him a ban.

Regardless, Leigh still felt the need to appeal the grading, with Lam feeling that the charge didn’t align with many other incidents that have occurred this season.

“We fought the Edwin Ipape charge, and we did a really good job on that,” he said.

“We felt that that was unfair and completely out of order… The whole club was very disappointed with just the time we had to put into that to get him off.

“We felt that it was a charge that skipped the Grade A and straight into a Grade B for a three-point charge and £600 [fine], which we still at this point are frustrated that we even got into a situation to challenge that.

“I guess everyone’s learning from things like this all the time, but it was not going to get him suspended, but that wasn’t the point. We thought in principle that it was something that if you’ve watched the clip yourself, you’ll understand my comments here, but there’s not much else you can do in the game of rugby league than what Edwin’s done when he made that tackle.

“To be charged for that was just outrageous and unfair, and we challenged it and rightfully so”