Quote halifaxjohn="halifaxjohn"How this problem this season will pan out is anyones idea.
Surely the way forward for next season is for the RFL to say from now on!'"
Problem is HJ the RFL did say "from now on" when they made the rules and backed that up when they made their decision.
Then the independent appeals overturned the decision, to stop that it would mean doing away with the appeals process.
From "now on" applies to the innocent party as well, they will be in a division lower with the implications that brings, are they not being penalised most out of all those involved, can that be right?
The punishment should fit the offense or where the club involved benefitted from.
In this case the club who broke the rules benefitted most on the field, they picked this player to give them the best team for the day to give them the best chance of winning, which they did.
That being the case out of all the punishment options available the win should be overturned, the clubs knew the rules and knew what breaking them could mean but for whatever reason failed to follow them.