Super League Disciplinary: John Asiata verdict confirmed

Super League Disciplinary has had plenty of stories and subplots as the saga goes on and on throughout the season.

One of the biggest goes all the way back to Super League Round Three, three nearly four weeks ago and involving Leigh Leopards star John Asiata.

Why has this Super League Disciplinary saga gone on so long? This is the second time a Leigh Leopards charge and appeal hasn’t played out in the same week.

After Round One, Leigh were granted special dispensation to appeal their charges because they didn’t have a game the week of Round Two due to Wigan Warriors’ World Club Challenge clash against Penrith Panthers.

A week later, Leigh returned to action against St Helens and 41 seconds into the game skipper John Asiata was sin binned.

This was for a low tackle similar to the ones that caused a massive Super League disciplinary row last year as he injured Agnatius Paasi and Alex Walmsley but wasn’t charged. Paul Wellens was fined for what he said after this but his complaints resulted in a rule change and a rule change that saw Asiata charged with a Grade A offence for the tackle.

Super League Disciplinary: Tribunal Verdict

With Asiata not being banned and also being out long term with a calf tear in the same game, Leigh were given longer to decide whether or not to appeal the charge and did so a week later.

However, the appeal has twice been postponed. The first time it was pushed back because both parties were unavailable according to Leigh Leopards owner Derek Beaumont.

The second, according to Adrian Lam, was due to the fact Beaumont was out of the country at the time.

Thus, as this Super League Disciplinary saga rumbled on, the tribunal was finally set to be heard today.

This has been the case with the Leopards being successful with their appeal as the RFL confirmed:

“Leigh Leopards were successful in their appeal against a Grade A charge issued to John Asiata after the Betfred Super League fixture against St Helens. Asiata was found not guilty, and the charge will therefore be removed from the player’s record.”

Asiata has therefore been found to have done nothing wrong and will have the black mark removed from his record.

Perhaps a fair decision especially given by Brian Carney’s admission the tackle only ticked off one of the four parameters for foul play on Sky Sports after the incident. That being said this decision is one which is set to be divisive and one that is likely to be seen as controversial.