Paul Wellens has his say on Morgan Knowles’ charge ahead of tribunal

Rivals Round was a brilliant celebration of rugby league with record attendances and brilliant rugby, however there was a huge number of bans.

The disciplinary panel were busy handing out 10 bans and two players have seen their charge go to tribunal.

They are Warrington’s Gil Dudson who faces a Grade E charge of punching and St Helens’ Morgan Knowles who was hit with a Grade D charge of dangerous contact.

Whilst Dudson’s charge was expected and evident for all to see as he got sent off for punching a defenceless Tom Johnstone, it was less clear at the time what happened with Morgan Knowles.

More so was the fact that other ‘dangerous contact’ charges saw bans of one game handed out, notably to James Batchelor who saw a ban for his tackle on Hull FC’s Jake Clifford.

Knowles heads to tribunal tonight and Paul Wellens was asked about the case in a press conference on SaintsTV.

“We just got the charge sheets and that was the information provided. I suppose at this stage with a tribunal to follow later on tonight I can’t really say too much.

“We’ll let that process take place and should we need to comment after it then we will, but with the process still ongoing I think it’s probably better I say very little at the moment.”

One man who did say something though was Jermaine McGillvary and the Huddersfield winger sent a tweet of support for Mike Cooper, who has suffered an ACL injury and will be out for 9-12 months as a result of Knowles’ tackle.

McGillvary tweeted his support for Cooper and then called for the tackle technique to be eradicated from the game.

All the best in your recovery big man @MikeCooper_18 💪🏿

Honestly these tackles need to be outlawed….absolutely disgraceful. I know the feeling too well having been on the end of one last season which left me out for more than 6months. pic.twitter.com/hMRKUkifiK

— Jermaine McGillvary (@J_mcGillvary) April 11, 2023