Why Leigh Leopards star avoided ban despite causing season ending injuries

St Helens have suffered two huge blows from their Challenge Cup semi-final defeat to Leigh Leopards.

Whilst there was so much focus on the yellow card for Sione Mata’utia, this wasn’t the only incident fans latched onto.

Jon Wilkin branded the tackles from John Asiata on Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi as “incredibly dangerous.”

Now, medical scans have sadly revealed that St Helens prop forwards Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi will unfortunately miss out the rest of the 2023 Betfred Super League season.

Both Saints players suffered injuries in the Betfred Challenge Cup Semi-Final loss to Leigh Leopards last Saturday afternoon, with Paasi needing assistance to come off the field.

Head Coach Paul Wellens referenced Paasi in his post-match conference, saying that his knee had been “blown to smithereens” and it has now been confirmed that unfortunately Agnatius is likely to miss at least nine months of action with ACL (anterior cruciate ligament), MCL (medial collateral ligament), and ankle ligament injuries.

Alex Walmsley has sadly injured his MCL which will end his 2023 season and requires surgery which has happened today.

Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook and Morgan Knowles also suffered knocks following tackles made in the Semi-Final fixture, with McCarthy-Scarsbrook expected to miss at least two weeks, whilst Knowles could feature in our upcoming Super League game this week if he passes his fitness checks and is declared fit to play.

Many will question why Asiata wasn’t banned for these tackles.

Here is what the match review panel said.

The first instance said: “Player gets body onto the ground prior to contacting opponent’s legs and actions of players teammate push opponent back towards player.”

The second incident was described as: “Player goes to make legitimate low tackle on person who is running towards him and arm is knocked away from wrapping by opponent’s leg.”

Finally the third tackle was described as: “Player makes legitimate initial contact with upper thigh of opponent who is moving forward. Legitimate actions of teammate with upper body contact force opponent’s body in two different directions.”

Some Saints fans have suggested that action should have been taken given that Paasi’s season could be over with Paul Wellens stating he is set to miss “a significant period.”