Just remembering the ridiculous 5 match ban Anakin got for a "dangerous" throw against a fully conscious opponent. What will Ben Flower get for his punch thrown against an unconscious O'hia flat out on the ground with no chance of defending himself?
For me forget the "tariff" garbage this goes beyond anything I've seen - must be at the least 12 games. He should have been arrested as he walked off the pitch.

He should spend next season out of the game and if there's any shred of decency on the Wigan BoD, he'd be sacked with immediate effect; in a few seconds of lunacy, he's dragged the reputation of RL back by decades and created more negative publicity than all the other shenanigans that have taken place this year.

Agreed. First punch - can happen and is a straight red - punching a fella who is on the ground unconscious is beyond belief. At lease a season out would be the minimum for me but I wondered what people thought would be the length of ban dished out by the RFL.

On TotalRL it gives his apology. Hope he doesn't think that will get him a lower ban. Should be out for a long time.

If taking performance enhancing drugs has ban of two years, then Flower should be banned triple that. Though I despair some of the comments on the VT thread, mainly by Leeds fans. "I hope he gets depression" is taking it too far.

6-8 matches for me.

8+ for me. First punch would have probably seen him cop a two match ban as it is but the second, for punching someone isn't able to even see straight never mind defend themselves, deserves the highest form of punishment.

If it was me I'd go 12 game domestic ban not including friendlies or internationals plus a £1,000 fine.

Ok it's clearly bad but let's not go over the top.
8 matches. Maybe a bit more. But no life ban. No dropping by club. No arrest.....especially as LH is ok with it.

Should be a minimum of 8 matches, but given his apology and the fact he plays for Wigan. I wouldn't expect any more than 3 matches.

@Chrisirvine: Gtr Manchester Police on Ben Flower: "We will b liaising with RFL St Helens & CPS before a decision is made on course of action to b taken."

I think this is totally ott whatever happens during a sport should be dealt by the governing body or it could set a presidence, it may lead to players even pulling out of tackles if unsure

But the RFL should be tuff on him as it was our number one occasion and all people will talk about is this incident, so you might add bringing game into disrepute?

It won't lead to players pulling out of tackles because

A) what happened with Hohaia wasn't a tackle
B) what player is going to think "I'm gonna knock that guy out, and when he's down I'm gonna punch him some more". There really shouldn't be a question of being unsure. If a player does what Flower did, it would be intent p, knowing its wrong anyway.


I'm glad the police are getting involved because what would've happened had Hohaia sustained a severe head injury? Extreme cases like these needs to be taken care of with extreme measures in order to warn players about future conduct.