The Grand Final is just over 24 hours away and though excitement is starting build, some of the focus has been away from the game and on the disciplinary process,
This is because of the situation surrounding Morgan Knowles. St Helens’ star Loose-forward, in fact the star loose-forward of Super League being named in the last four Dream Teams, was given a two-match ban on Monday.
This came for twisting Chris Atkin’s arm in a tackle during St Helens’ 19-12 semi-final win over the Red Devils which also yielded a yellow card.
On Tuesday, the Saints appealed the ban and lost. It was believed that was the end of it until out of the blue the RFL revealed that the Champions had been successful with a second appeal enabling Knowles to play in the Grand Final against Leeds on Saturday.
Yesterday Knowles was named in the 21 man squad for the final whilst at yesterday’s pre-match press conference a huge amount of focus was placed on the appeal process with both Kristian Woolf and Rohan Smith being asked to give their thoughts on it.
However, having the focus on this isn’t right according to serial Grand Final winner and two-time treble winner with Bradford and St Helens, Leon Pryce.
He feels it’s wrong that ahead of the biggest game of the season we’re talking about bans and not the many great narratives on display.
He took to Twitter to say:
“Biggest game of the year and all we’re talking about is the Match Review Panel & bans. I bet it really interests people outside of the game.
“What about the stars on show, keys to winning the game, Saints going for 4 in a row, Leeds from scrap heap to potential champions. Sell the game!”
Biggest game of the year and all we’re talking about is the MRP & bans.
I bet it really interests people outside of the game🥴
What about the stars on show
keys to winning the game
Saints going for 4 in a row
Leeds from scrap heap to potential champions
Sell the game!
— Leon Pryce (@leonpryce6) September 22, 2022
It is hard to escape the controversial overturning of Knowles’ ban which caught the rugby league world by surprise, but there is a great Grand Final awaiting and the excitement should no doubt start building exponentially over the next day.
