Tuesday 14 October 2014 20:07, UK
Sky Sports’ rugby league experts Jon Wells and Tony Rea both believe that the RFL were right to hand out a six-month ban to Ben Flower for his attack on Lance Hohaia during Saturday's Grand Final defeat to St Helens.
Flower’s ban stretches to April 14 and rules him out of 13 games overall – after the match-review panel of the RFL decided it was worth more than the eight-game minimum for a Grade F offence.
Flower punched Hohaia twice at Old Trafford - the second of which was thrown while Hohaia was lying on the floor.
Wigan have already stated they will not appeal and both the team and player have apologised for the incident, which Wells says deserved the six-month ban he has received.
“We were expecting something big weren’t we? We were expecting something out of the ordinary,” Wells said on Sky Sports News HQ. “The guidelines that the RFL’s disciplinary committee had laid down are eight matches as a starting point for a Grade F offence.
“It’s hard to get away from the fact that it was a Grand Final, the biggest of stages, the most severe looking punch. And it’s the second punch, the punch on the prone Lance Hohaia that judgement has gone down on. Common sense suggests that’s what the ban is for.
“Six months is a long time – in my opinion that’s fair. It has to be given the circumstances, the biggest stage of all.
"He’s 26 years of age – he’s got plenty of rugby in front of him. The Wigan club, I’m 99 per cent sure, they will stick by him. Ben Flower has been a fantastic addition to that team. He’s a young Welsh lad who has come in and tried his luck and he’s had a great deal of success.
“Prop forward is one of the most combative roles on any rugby field, and the difficulty has been keeping those emotions in check. He’s going to have a long time now to sit down and think about it. I don’t think his contract is in danger. There’s a big future ahead of him – he’s obviously a top class player.
“What I’m most pleased to see was the speed with which he came out with a full and frank and unreserved apology to Lance, to Wigan, to Rugby League, because that is what it needed. This has been a very unsavoury incident. Notwithstanding all the attention we’ve had, this is an incredibly rare incident in rugby league.”
Former London Broncos coach Tony Rea also gave his reaction to Sky Sports News HQ and he said that the ban seemed a suitable punishment for such a serious offence.
“When you look at it as being ten games in Super League but when you know Ben Flower is a certainty to be picked for Wales and then you see he’ll miss the World Club challenge for Wigan it’s a very extensive ban,” said Rea.
“And so I’d suggest it’s on the money.
“Six months is a long time, a bit of this time is the offseason so not a playing period but saying that it extends a long way into the playing season
“Of course if eight games is the minimum, and it wasn’t a minimum offence, we’ve got to say that, to punch a guy lying on the ground is not a minimum offence, so it’s probably a fair call.
“The initial reaction is it’s extensive and above the minimum suspension and it’s a suitable suspension - it’s a difficult one and a tough one but it’s as bad as you get an incident.”
