Jon Wilkin hits out at “woeful” video referee over Hull KR red card

Jon Wilkin has called out the standards of the video referee after the red card shown to Hull KR forward Sauaso Sue in the Robins’ 20-14 comeback win over Leeds Rhinos.

Sue was sent off on the 60th minute mark with the resulting penalty making it 14-6 to Leeds but Hull KR scored three tries in the final 15 minutes to secure a famous win and extend their lead atop Super League.

The Robins’ prop wasn’t the only man sent off with Ash Handley sent off after 70 minutes for making head contact with Arthur Mourgue, another controversial decision but Sue’s has got fans and pundits alike talking.

One of those is Jon Wilkin who has hit out at the decision and the people making it, arguing that they have “no practical understanding of the situation”.

Sam Lisone charged forward and was falling rapidly when Sue made contact with his head whilst the Leeds forward was at around knee height. Sue did not wrap his arms and did make contact with the head but many expected ‘mitigation’ for Lisone’s rapidly declining height.

That wasn’t given and Sue was shown red with Willie Peters among those to hit out at the decision.

Hull KR red card decision slammed by Jon Wilkin

RED CARD for Sauaso Sue 🟥 pic.twitter.com/GkLaZNjGU7

— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) April 25, 2025

Another is Jon Wilkin, who asked: “What can Sauaso Sue do? And this is the problem in the game at the minute. We’ve got people making decisions and making calls on this who have no practical understanding of that situation.

“A 120 kilo man making a break, falling at your knees, like where are you meant to go? Where are you meant to go?”

Wilkin conceded that it was certainly a penalty and possibly a yellow, claiming it should be no more given the yellow card shown to Leeds’ Jack Sinfield for a shoulder charge to the head with no mitigation regarding height in the first half.

The Sky Sports pundit said: “He hits him in the head and we’re all aligned, that’s a penalty. That might even be a yellow card, but there is no chance ever, ever in my time in the game that that is a red card.

“I’ll accept a yellow card. In the light of the Jack Sinfield one, that’s got to be a yellow card because Jack Sinfield didn’t drop his height and shoulder charged someone in the head. This guy’s falling at another guy’s knees and gets hit in the head. It’s a split second. Where can you go?

“We’ve got people making decisions on this who have no practical experience of being in that situation. You can use all the terminology you want, you can call it what you want, mitigation, whatever. That is accidental contact with the head of a falling player.

“We accept it as a penalty, we accept it as a yellow card. It’s not a red. Get over it, it’s nonsense.”

“Let’s play video referee roulette” – Jon Wilkin takes aim at Super League officials

Wilkin had taken aim at some refereeing decisions on Thursday night when Warrington Wolves beat St Helens with the former Saint claiming that Paul Wellens’ side were hard done by on some calls.

After watching two controversial red cards at Headingley, he joked: “Let’s just play a video referee roulette, we’ll just toss a ball in a wheel, spin it round and it’s either red or yellow. Or it’s nothing. Or it’s a try or it’s no try. Or you’re in field or you’re out of field. The standard of the video referee and the referee of the last two nights has been nothing short of woeful.

“Do we want to be talking about Sauaso Sue being sent off for something that’s innocuous? Well, of course we don’t. But the decision making is poor, Brian. It’s not good enough. Right. It’s not good enough for our game. It’s tin pot. It looks bad.

“Everybody here, apart from a noisy south stand, are aligned with the opinion that is not a red.”