Wigan Warriors have decided that they will be appealing the one-match ban handed down to prop forward Ethan Havard, with the club set to attend an Operational Rules Tribunal later tonight to plead the prop’s innocence.
The Warriors’ decision was first reported by Serious About Rugby League’s sister site Wigan Today, whilst Serious About Rugby League has reached out to the RFL for confirmation.
Havard was one of three players to be banned after round 10 of Super League with Hull FC’s Amir Bourouh and Bradford Bulls’ Mitch Souter also picking up suspensions.
Bourouh will be able to serve his in a reserve match whilst Souter can serve one of his two games in the reserves, however, for Havard that’s not possible as Wigan are set to face St Helens in the Challenge Cup semi-finals this Saturday.
Accepting the ban would mean that Havard would miss out but Wigan Warriors are appealing in a bid to overturn the ban and have their prop available.
Havard was handed a Grade B charge worth three penalty points, which when added to his previous 3.5 penalty points, took his tally beyond the six-point threshold of a ban.
This will be the first Super League appeal in 2026 with one of the major reasons for a lack of appeals being the deterrent of an extra five penalty points for failed appeals, however, that would not impact Havard immediately.
Five extra penalty points would only take him to 11.5 points, still shy of the 12-point mark for a two-game ban, so he would still be available for Wigan’s round 11 Super League match against Leeds Rhinos.
Where a failed appeal would hurt Wigan is further down the line as those five penalty points would remain on the forward’s record, meaning he’d spend much of the regular season walking a tightrope and teetering on the edge of a ban.
If Wigan are successful in their appeal then the forward would be available for Saturday’s match with the Warriors also set to be boosted by the returns of Harry Smith and Sam Walters, both of whom had been handed three-match bans after the Challenge Cup quarter-final win over Wakefield Trinity.
