Super League Final

A grand-final that should be remembered for St Helens overcoming an agonising title drought will unfortunately be remembered for something else.

We all know what went down over in the Super League final at Old Trafford. A Welsh bloke going by Ben Flower knocked the Huntly Hurricane into next week, then gave another while he was on the ground for good measure and was rightly marched.

All things aside, this incident will effect Flower the most. The world’s not full of good or bad people. It’s full of decent people who do dumb shit and have to live with it.

The ban Flower cops will be interesting, but he can probably expect at least a one year ban. Remember Melbourne Storm player Danny Williams’ king hit on Mark O’Neill from behind 10 years ago, he was handed an 18 game suspension but never returned to the NRL.

Many will blame Flower for the loss, including himself. Wigan certainly looked like the better team for the majority of the match and the nature of the loss certainly points to his absence as the main reason.

But whatever, it happened. It will take a large toll on him, fans will not forget what he did and a lengthy ban while needed is not going to help him move on. Hopefully, the right support is given to him.

There have been talks of criminal charges, in which case an interesting precedent for English sport would be set and it could be for the better. Some would argue it shouldn’t. That it’s sport and a sporting issue but that’s simply wrong. As a globally broadcasted game, it has an impact on society both locally and internationally. I’m not saying I want to see him charged but simply dismissing the issue as something Hohaia deserved is ignorant and avoiding more serious issues.

It happened in Canada when ice hockey player Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks knocked out Colorado player Steve Moore from behind. The result of the punch, the impact of hitting the ice and Bertuzzi and others landing on him after led to three fractured vertebrae for Moore and Bertuzzi charged with assault causing bodily harm.

All-in-all, both nasty incidents.

On the bright side St Helens finally won the title after five successive grand final defeats between 2007 and 2011.

For captain Paul Wellens the final was about exorcising demons. He had begun to question himself and his team but said the work of coach Nathan Brown helped restore belief.

He even admitted after the game. The line he fed to the media in the build-up was that the defeats didn’t bother him or were playing on his heavily on his mind but revealed that they certainly did.

So, much like Souths, a monkey off the back for the Saints and their fans.