Leeds are the latest club in danger of suffering from the crackdown on dangerous tackling techniques in the Super League, as their second-row Carl Ablett has been summoned to a disciplinary hearing on Tuesday.
Ablett has been charged by the Rugby Football League's video review panel with "using his body forcefully to bend or apply unnecessary pressure to the head and/or neck and/or spinal" of the Hull KR forward Rhys Lovegrove in last Saturday's game at Craven Park, which the Rhinos lost 38-28.
The offence has been graded B, leaving Ablett in danger of a one- or two-match suspension that would rule him out of Friday's home game against Huddersfield and possibly another derby, at Bradford on Thursday week.
Several players have been suspended for dangerous tackles or wrestling holds that apply pressure to an opponents' joints this season, most recently and notoriously the Wigan forward Jeff Lima, who was sent to the sin-bin in last week's draw at Leeds for a tackle on Chris Clarkson that sparked a brawl. Lima was later banned for one match.
The review panel decided not to take any further action against the Warrington captain, Adrian Morley, for a high tackle on the young Huddersfield wing Jermaine McGillvary last Friday, ruling that Morley had made a "legitimate attempt to tackle, does not use swinging arm" and that McGillvary had been "falling into [the] tackle", and had "bent into contact with opponent".
The Huddersfield forward Andy Raleigh has been ruled out until the end of the month with an eye injury sustained in that game. Warrington expect the Australian three-quarter Matt King to return over the Easter weekend, after he suffered knee ligament damage in the first game of the season.
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