Lee Radford: Castleford Tigers head coach criticises the sin-bin decision in the defeat to Wigan Warriors

Castleford Tigers head coach Lee Radford says he currently doesn’t recognise the game of rugby league due to some of the decisions being made.
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Mahe Fonua was sent to the sin bin in the 32-22 defeat to Wigan Warriors, for what was perceived to be a late tackle.

Radford was left frustrated by the call and has been left unhappy by how the game is being officiated.

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He said: “It’s not the game of rugby league, it’s not what I love; I don’t know what it is. It’s boxing without being able to throw a punch.

Lee RadfordLee Radford
Lee Radford

“At the beginning of the year, I thought there was a real buzz around the game, which is something I’ve not seen for a really long time, but all we are talking about is this, and we shouldn’t be.

“We should be rewarding some of the good stuff we have going on out there, but this is the topic. How many times am I going to be asked these questions every week? In typical rugby league fashion we’ve shot ourselves in the foot.

“It’s sad we are talking about it.”

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Radford admits losing a man made it even more difficult to deal with Wigan’s Jai Field, who put in a man of the match winning display.

“Defensively, we spoke about his kick return,” he added.

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“We put a real emphasis on putting him in the right pocket because he travels laterally to his right. The one distance kick of the game where it bounces to centre field and he kicks right, and it’s the one kick where we are down to 12, so you can’t make it up.

“It’s difficult to defend Jai Field when you have 13 blokes on the field, so to do it with a number down is even more difficult.”

Castleford also went down to 12 men in the latter stages of the game, as Brad Martin was shown a red card for a high hit on Willie Isa, in a period where the Tigers had the momentum.

“I cop that,” explained Radford.

“It’s a fantastic decision, so I can handle that.”

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