RUGBY LEAGUE
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WALLERAWANG'S captain-coach has been rubbed out of rugby league for 12 months after making physical contact with a referee in a Centennial Coal Cup game against CSU Yellow last Saturday.
Wallerawang came away from the match at Diggings Oval last Saturday with a 42-12 win, but they have paid a far higher cost with captain-coach Kyle Willmott rubbed out for a year for making physical contact with a referee and four others serving shorter suspensions.
The Group 10 judiciary met on Thursday night and decided that Willmott's actions warranted him being ruled out of any involvement in rugby league for the duration of his suspension.
Aaron Cooper was found guilty of a serious striking charge and was suspended for 15 weeks, three of those suspended, meaning he will sit out for a total of 12 matches.
Three other Wallerawang players Adam Belbin, Jared Young and Wes Monds were handed four-week sentences for making comments on social media. Three weeks of those penalties have been suspended, meaning the trio will be back for the finals next weekend.
CSU player Lachlan Blaikie and Wallerawang's Wes Mendes also appeared in front of the judiciary for alleged striking incidents, but their cases were dismissed on account of being wrongly identified.
But while taking a strong stance in terms of penalties, Group 10 offered no harsh words for the offenders.
Group 10 officials declined to comment on the latest incidents, but they are satisfied with the judiciary's decisions. The Group has also prevented the clubs from talking about the issue.
"I can't talk. The Group [10] have told us that we can't talk about anything other than football," CSU president Andrew Banasik said when asked about the incidents in CSU Yellow's match against Wallerawang.
On the field, last week's match had significant consequences for the finals aspirations of both teams. Wallerawang and Yellow were level on points in fourth and fifth position.
The win for Wallerawang moved them into outright fourth and left CSU Yellow needing to win today to hold onto the last spot in the top five.
If Yellow lose against clubmates CSU Blue, they will need to hope that Villages United also lose to Kandos or the Perthville team could edge them out of the finals.
CSU Blue are the competition leaders but also need to win to ensure they finish as minor premiers.