If ever there was an obvious 'red card' rant it was this one.
I'm disappointed that it has taken the RFL 4 months to take action. I don't see why he should not have been ordered to pitch-up at a disciplinary tribunal in the week that that the comments were made. It was a flagrant attack on the officiating of the game. Whatever genuine issues he felt that the tackling gave rise to it just sounded like a load of sour grapes following Leigh's brilliant win against the odds.
Wellens' comments were undermined in my opinion by 2 factors. Firstly, Walmsley was clearly injured during the game and, if I remember correctly, went off clearly in distress and limping yet the player came back on later, still clearly injured, and continued playing for a period of time in a physically intense game.
Wellens talks about protecting players from reckless and in his opinion out of control tackles which could be career ending. I say players should be equally protected from decisions by coaches to put players back on the field of play who are injured and who risk exacerbating an existing and potentially serious injury. Forgive me but it is that kind of recklessness that puts players careers and livelihoods at risk.
Secondly, and very pertinently and as already highlighted by VL on this thread, Wellens' comments smacked of hypocrisy and the man could not see it whilst it has been obvious to those of us in the stands. It was right in front of his nose. His own player, James Bell, had been tackling in a very similar fashion to Asiata throughout the season. Arguably, Bell is even more aggressive than John in his tackling technique. He is slightly smaller than John but is noticeably quicker and he makes up for lack of size in the tackle by throwing himself forward at the legs of the approaching ball carriers with, to my eyes, merely a nod, to an attempt at a wrap around. Again, arguably, he does this to intimidate the ball carrier and to 'punch above his weight' in the tackling stakes. In a nutshell, he has regularly used his body as a missile aimed at the legs of opponents.
It is perhaps always prudent that before sticking your snout in front of a microphone and sounding off against an opponent in a team that you have just lost to that you have a very careful look at what is going on in your own back garden and to remedy perceived 'reckless' matters that are very much within your own control such as your own decision making and your own players tackling techniques. It is sensible to do so before sounding off and identifying opponents as the sole culprits.
I'm with Bongser on this one. I think that Wellens has been very lucky that he has escaped even greater censure from officialdom. If anything was out of control in all of this it was his own rant - Wellens' not Bongser's I hasten to add! .
