The Minchella controversy rumbles on after receiving just one disciplinary point.
17:21, 08 Sep 2025Updated 17:29, 08 Sep 2025
Elliot Minchella received a yellow card for this tackle on Lewis Martin.
Eyebrows were raised on Monday when Hull KR captain Elliot Minchella received only a Grade A charge for the tackle that saw him sin-binned in the Hull Derby.
The tackle was one of the major incidents in the game with the potential punishment discussed heavily on Sky Sports and social media, with many suggesting Minchella should have been red-carded.
In the end, Minchella has received the lowest disciplinary charge which comes with just one penalty point. He is free to play against this week.
On the face of it, a Grade A charge seems lenient, but All Out Rugby League has now received an explanation surrounding the charge after receiving the minutes.
“Opponent loses height but player does not lower height to avoid contact with the head. Shoulder is always likely to make contact with the head of the opponent. Contact is low level force with majority of force going through the ball, opponent’s body and arm before contacting the head, reducing the level of force.”
An understanding of the head contact framework
The RFL has previously published the framework which determines how head contact charges are analysed and subsequently charged by Match Review Panel.
The RFL head contact sanctioning framework.
The important points to look out for here are the mitigating and aggravating factors. In mitigation, a number of them apply to Minchella. He is cleary bent at the waist and knees, as a still of the incident below shows. In doing so, he has made an attempt to change his height to avoid the ball carrier’s head.
As Minchella approaches the tackle, it is clear that he is bent down, which is considered an attempt to reduce tackle height.
And if you look at the aggravating factors, none of them apply. Martin carried on playing after the tackle. Minchella’s feet are clearly planted on the floor and Minchella’s trajectory was not always going towards the ball carrier’s head, it was only after Lewis slipped that scenario played out.
That brings the seriousness of the tackle down and with the yellow card factored in, that is why the charge went down further to an A.
Comparing it to other tackles
Naturally, the incident has been compared to the Cade Cust red card that he received when the team teams played earlier in the year. The tackles are very clearly different.
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Using the mitigation and aggravating factors again, the key difference is that there were aggravating factors in the Cust tackle. He comes off his feet as he makes the tackle, the speed in which he approached the tackle meant he would be deemed to be out of control too and as his trajectory rises in the follow through, it can be argued his trajectory was always going towards the head.
The outcome of both tackles is contact to the head but the circumstances in which they happened are different. That is why one challenge was considered a red and one a yellow. Cust received a Grade C charge for that tackle but only landed three penalty points because he was sent off in the first half, which reduces the number of points related to a charge.