Revealed: St Helens challenged grading of Morgan Knowles offence and why tribunal rejected it

Morgan Knowles was hit with a five match ban at a tribunal on Tuesday night for a tackle that injured Mike Cooper.

However, during the tribunal it was revealed that St Helens challenged the grading, though they were unsure of it given medical evidence was being supplied.

This was the reasoning behind their challenge according to the RFL:

“Mike Rush explained that the club were unsure if they were appealing the grading as this was the first time they had been involved in a hearing where medical evidence had been supplied, however, in his opinion the tackle was careless and not reckless.

“Rush believed that the footage showed that when Knowles puts his hands on the opponents shoulder his body twists, and this along with the contribution of two teammates was instrumental in adding momentum which caused the accident. Rugby League is a contact sport and accidents do happen, but in this instance the actions of Knowles were careless not reckless.

“Knowles informed the Tribunal that there was never any intention to cause injury to the opponent. They are friends and he was gutted that his actions had resulted in an injury which could take 9-12 months before the opponent can be back in action.”

The Tribunal reached the following verdict:

“The Panel believed that this act was reckless and graded correctly at Grade D. The Panel do not believe that momentum was the reason Mr Knowles feet came off the ground, simply that he took his own feet off the ground causing a significant proportion of his body weight to then go through the leg of his opponent.”