St Helens boss Paul Wellens could face punishment for the comments he made after a Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Leigh Leopards as the Saints came short of an appearance at Wembley.
Wellens was critical of four tackles from John Asiata which went unpunished by the RFL’s Match Review Panel despite the injuries they caused.
Naturally Paul Wellens was unimpressed by the tackles which could have undone Saints’ season due to the injuries caused.
This is because medical scans have sadly revealed that prop forwards Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi will unfortunately miss out the rest of the 2023 Betfred Super League season.
Wellens referenced Paasi in his post-match conference, saying that his knee had been “blown to smithereens” and it has now been confirmed that unfortunately Agnatius is likely to miss at least nine months of action with ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), MCL (medial collateral ligament), and ankle ligament injuries.
Alex Walmsley has sadly injured his MCL which will end his 2023 season and requires surgery which has happened today.
Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Morgan Knowles also suffered knocks following tackles made in the Semi-Final fixture, with McCarthy-Scarsbrook expected to miss at least two weeks, whilst Knowles could feature in our upcoming Super League game this week if he passes his fitness checks and is declared fit to play.
In response to this news, Paul Wellens has slammed the RFL for failing to protect its players at the weekend.
He said on BBC Radio Merseyside: “This weekend, the governing body has failed in it’s duty to protect it’s players. On the weekend, we had four players injured by one player tackling in a reckless and dangerous manner.”
Now following these comments, BBC Sport have reported that Wellens will face the RFL’s compliance board and could face punishment for the comments.
Interestingly, Wellens isn’t the only coach set to face the board with BBC Sport reporting that Paul Rowley will also after a St Helens game funnily enough as Salford Red Devils lost to the Saints and Rowley later called official Jack Smith a “disgrace.”
He also said questioned why Salford never get Chris Kendall or Liam Moore.