Hooker’s two-game suspension

Suspension: Gareth Owen

GARETH Owen will submit an early guilty plea to a striking offence at the RFL disciplinary panel, which meets tonight following the brawl at the end of the Barrow game.

The Oldham hooker will receive a two-match ban and will miss the game at Keighley Cougars on May 31 and at home to North Wales Crusaders on June 7.

The fate of Owen’s team-mates George Tyson and Josh Johnson, charged with similar offences, will be decided tonight.

Johnson, like Owen, was reported on a grade C offence, while Tyson escaped with the marginally less serious grade ‘B’. The early guilty plea admission isn’t available to either man.

Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton said: “We’ll plead guilty on behalf of both and make submissions on their behalf.

“We were surprised only one Barrow player (Liam Campbell) was called and we felt the charges were graded severely, but there is nothing we can do about those things. People who watch us regularly know we are not a dirty side.”

Recommended sanctions are suspensions one to two matches for grade B offences and two to three matches for grade C offences, but the panel doesn’t have to stick to these.