'The RFL need to look at it': Hull KR coach Willie Peters on moving forward from sin-bin controversy

Picture by Olly Hassell/SWpix.com - Hull KR head coach Willie Peters

Hull Kingston Rovers coach Willie Peters wants domestic rugby league's governing body the RFL to act after the sin-bin and suspension controversy around their 24-20 defeat at Wigan Warriors.

Rovers were leading Wigan 20-14 when they had Jai Whitbread sin-binned after 59 minutes - and, once they had 13 men back on the field, were losing 24-20, which is how it finished in the top-of-the-table clash. Whitbread has subsequently also received a one-match ban for Rovers' match away against Leigh this Friday in the penultimate round of regular-season Super League fixtures.

Jesse Sue and Whitbread went in to tackle Wigan prop Tyler Dupree - and Sue's initial contact caused Dupree to ricochet into Whitbread, whose right shoulder connected with Dupree's right cheek. Dupree stayed down and a yellow card was then given to Whitbread.

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Asked about whether he has any qualms about the yellow card or imminent suspension, Peters replied: "I won't go too much into it, I'd rather talk about Leigh and our game ahead. But it's something that obviously the RFL need to look at. I think we did go away from suspensions. For a while, they were just giving penalties and having a look at it later on. If you did get ten minutes, it didn't always lead to a suspension. Last couple of weeks it seems like we've gone back to that. It's something we need to look at over here as a game.

"You want the best players playing. Safety is always number one. We understand that as coaches. As a game, we understand that. But there are going to be accidents in rugby league and then there's going to be foul play as well. That's what we need to determine and look at. The RFL are the ones that will set the standard with that, and the referees will go off the back of that, as will the players. It's an RFL decision to be made. But I think the referees have got a pretty good understanding of the game. And over many, many years, even before the video ref was there, they would look at a tackle and go 'yes, that's deemed as foul play' or it's just an accident in rugby league and unfortunately he's just slipped up or ricocheted off someone else. There was the incident that happened with Jai over the weekend. Then you've got the Paul Vaughan situation. There's a number of them at the moment that are suspensions that I don't think warrant a suspension."

Dupree staying down is part of a trend in the game in which players are doing that. That has led to fears about gamesmanship within the sport.

Peters said: "You could slo-mo most tackles and then there's a lot of tackles that are going to be towards the head. Then players stay down and you watch that on slo motion then more often than not it's going to be deemed as a high tackle. It's above the players, it's above the coaches. The RFL need to look at it.

"There are certain players staying down. And you tend to know the players that do consistently stay down and the ones that don't. But it's above that. It's a decision that needs to be made by the RFL, what direction we are going to go in and then the officials will ref the game off the back of that. My opinion is that the referees have got a good understanding of a tackle and what a tackle should look like; what an illegal tackle looks like, what it doesn't look like. And a lot of the time they can make a decision live. We've got this tool that we go back to. If we are going to use that, do you use it for every tackle? You'll be finding penalties and reasons on most tackles - the answer is no.

"Referees have got a good understanding and feel of games, whether something is legal or illegal. There are some accidents that happen in games, penalise it. If it's intentional or needs to be looked at, they might get a feel of the game and go 'ok, that needs to be looked at, I want to have a look at it'. Those are only my thoughts on it. But players, if it doesn't get caught or get seen, are going to stay down. And is it ten minutes in the bin? Not all of them are. Is it a penalty? Absolutely. Should it be put on report, should it be looked at later again? Possibly.

"Players with the time on the floor and then the video ref having a look, it takes away from what the game is about. The game is about free flowing, everyone wants a nice fast game and they want a physical game as well and I think at times we are slowing the game down and looking at things that the referee can see. And I'm not blaming the referees one bit, they are just doing their job. A decision needs to be made above about what direction we want to go and then everyone's clear about it.

"Previously, there were some penalties and you thought 'he's going to be gone here' but then it's just a penalty but it was an accident, and you go 'that's good, that's great'; the player got up, he was ok which is the main thing, and then everyone just cracked on with the game and it was a penalty. Then at times, if it was worse, yes, you can't hit someone around the head deliberately. That's always for me ten minutes.

"But these ones where there's some late footwork and then the man hits a defender next to him, then a shoulder makes contact to the head, there's no intention there. He's not intentionally trying to do that, especially with the grounds over here being wet a lot of the time. Players with good footwork, you're going to have that accidental contact to the head. It's something we just need to keep looking at. It's not the players' fault, it's not the referees' fault, it's just something that we need to get right as a game."

Asked if there was a temptation to appeal Whitbread's ban, Peters responded: "I think, yes, you'd like to appeal it. But if you're looking at the ones previously and did he make contact to the head and all that sort of stuff, yes there was contact to the head, and where do you go with it? Warrington a couple of weeks ago with Paul Vaughan is probably an example. It's going to happen unfortunately. We are trying to get it out of our game and players, staff and coaches are working hard to minimise that. Did he make contact to the head? Yes, unfortunately he did. Was it an accident? Yes, absolutely it was. But they won't take that on board."

Questioned on whether he would expect players to go off for a HIA or see a green card being issued, Peters said: "Yes, I think that if a player is down for that long and there's something there, they probably need to go off, whether it's a green card or an HIA. At the moment they can stay down. In hindsight, after Friday, it's not the players; certain players know that if they stay down after getting tagged on the head, they are going to get a penalty or ten minutes or whatever. Some players are legitimately injured and it doesn't mean they are concussed, they just need some time. It's just something that needs to be cleaned up and then everyone is clear and understands what it is."

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