CW8 wrote:
You have had favourable treatment for years, all that's happened, is that you're now being treated the same as everyone else.
Everyone has had bad calls and everyone gets the same inconsistencies with the disciplinary panel. Historically this has mostly been saints players getting lesser bans for the same offence (see makinson vs Lineham squirrel grip bans), or even saints players getting bans overturned where other clubs get an extra game for being frivolous with appeals, like we had with oliver holmes last season. We had a 7 game ban issued before the season started, yet we are being given favourable treatment? It's never your fault is it? Referees are giving out more penalties and 6 against and your players aren't adapting. Saints will still win it this season, don't worry.
Never our fault? Don't make out we're like Liverpool. I'm not saying we never commit fouls, or even bannable fouls (Hurrell for example). I'm fine with Saints players getting bans, provided we're treated the same as the other teams across all the games. But we aren't. Look at the Cas v Leeds game. Several incidents in that, three late shots (1 picked up for Bentley, the others completely ignored), two blatant high shots, contact with the ref and abuse of the ref picked up on the televised footage. If that was a Saints game we'd be looking multiple bans. If the Knowles challenge happened in four games, it'd likely be ignored in two, charged at a fine in one and banned when it's Saints. That's how it is this year.
The treatment of Saints this year isn't them reeling us back from preferential treatment as you make out, it's a mard reaction to the disciplinary process being embarassed by Mike Rush over the Knowles appeal. That's all it is. They felt the same as you and everyone else who isn't a Saints fan did when they had to overturn that ban because of technicality. Now we're getting that back with two fingers. Just shows what an amateurish sport it is.
