St Helens and Leeds Rhinos among clubs sweating Super League disciplinary

Several Super League clubs will be anxiously awaiting the disciplinary verdict today from the Match Review Panel after misdemeanors in Round Thirteen.

It was a relatively quiet week for the referees in terms of dishing out cards with just two men sent to the sin bin, however, one game saw two other unpunished incidents that have been points of controversy.

Round Thirteen brings us right towards the precipice of the halfway stage of the season and with the new Super League disciplinary system seeing penalty points accrue across a 12-month period, we could be set to see more bans in the second-half of the campaign.

As such, avoiding charges is massively important so that players don’t end up walking disciplinary tightropes, the likes of which several Super League stars are already walking.

Round Thirteen saw Hull KR and Wigan continue to shine with Leeds and Leigh also winning to head up the chasing pack. Hull FC came back to form with a thumping win in the South of France and Warrington Wolves got a much-needed win to mean they take some form to next week’s Challenge Cup Final.

It’s expected that both Hull KR and Warrington Wolves will have all players available in regards to avoiding bans, but we’ve assessed some of the incidents that the Match Review Panel could be looking at following Round Thirteen.

Who will be sweating the Super League disciplinary verdict?

The most obvious places to start are the two yellow cards, handed to St Helens’ Deon Cross and Leeds Rhinos’ James Bentley.

Cross was sent for ten minutes in the first half against Hull KR as his swinging arm caught the ball carrier high around the neck and he can likely have no true arguments about it, with Arthur Mourgue having simply beaten him on the inside.

The listed mitigation by Liam Rush was that Mourgue was falling and that will be considered by the Match Review Panel if they take a look at the incident.

Interestingly, Hull KR boss Willie Peters confirmed that he withdrew Elliot Minchella late on and opted to play with twelve men to ensure no disciplinary issues arose, highlighting the Robins’ wariness ahead of their Wembley trip.

James Bentley was the other man sin binned, catching Jay Pitts late as Wakefield mounted their last minute attack. It was another one where the player is hard pressed to complain about the issue but he’s not the only man who may be looked at from that West Yorkshire derby.

Pundit Kevin Brown believed that Keenan Palasia could have been sent to the sin bin for his shot on Josh Rourke though replays don’t necessarily confirm the shot to be high, though it will be looked at.

Another incident in the game appeared to show Josh Griffin in a punching motion at the ruck, however, Harry Newman was simply instructed to play the ball despite Leeds’ protests. More angles could shed more light on that when the Match Review Panel review the games.

Super League Round Thirteen cards

Deon Cross (Sin Bin) – High Tackle
James Bentley (Sin Bin) – Late Shot