Why Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants stars avoided bans despite being charged

Wigan Warriors star Luke Thompson was charged with Dangerous Contact whilst Huddersfield Giants star signing was charged with Head Contact by the Super League Match Review Panel but neither of them were hit with suspensions.

Both players will be available for Round Five of the Betfred Super League unlike Hull FC star Jack Ashworth and St Helens centre Mark Percival.

These two offences are the ones we see most often in Super League and typically lead to bans but crucially not always and here the RFL has shown some terrific discretion to not over punish players.

But the question remains: why exactly did the dup dodge bans? Here we take a look at the RFL‘s decision.

Why Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants stars avoided bans

The reason these two players from the Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants avoided bans despite being charged was simple: they were only fined because the offences didn’t warrant a higher grade but that’s not the whole story.

We have seen in the past that Grade Bs can lead to suspensions, so why not in this case? That’s likely to be because the two players don’t have a prior record within Super League mainly because they are both new signings.

Thompson’s past at St Helens is no longer taken into account after his move to Wigan Warriors.

Another reason behind the decision to not ban either for dangerous contact or the head contact from Murchie is because fines are simply better and perhaps fairer for such a low level offence which is ultimately the reason they avoided bans.

Fines better than suspensions

This is an example of the Match Review Panel getting it absolutely spot on. Clearly Luke Thompson and Jack Murchie were both guilty of something but it wasn’t something that needed to see Wigan Warriors and Huddersfield Giants punished harshly for it.

Fines were introduced to stop small bans for small offences ensuring ruling star players out of games and straining squads unnecessarily.

So, the Match Review Panel, the RFL, Robert Hicks and Paul Cullen deserve a pat on the back for this and the reduced number of charges we have seen.

Sometimes, and especially in this case, a fine and a slap on the wrist is all you need.