Super League’s most banned players in 2024: Hull FC duo, Hull KR new signing included

There was arguably no bigger talking point throughout Super League 2024 than disciplinary matters. 

The early weeks of the campaign were marred with controversy as player after player was handed suspensions aplenty by the disciplinary panel – leading to a dramatic fall-back from the RFL on their processes and procedures.

And while things certainly calmed down before the end of the season, there were a number of players who picked up multiple suspensions that saw them banned for a hefty number of Super League matches.

Here are the players who top that unfortunate list – including one man who missed a quarter of the season due to suspensions, and is due to switch clubs for 2025..

=4. Liam Watts, Fenton Rogers, Tyler Dupree, Franklin Pele: 4 games

We start with four different players who each racked up four games’ worth of suspensions. Castleford prop Watts’ four-game ban came in the early stages of the season and was one of the major talking points in the chaotic first month of the 2024 campaign.

Huddersfield man Rogers picked up four games across two separate charges, while Dupree also picked up a one and three-game ban himself It is perhaps Pele’s four matches that are the most impressive though given he didn’t last the full season at Hull FC!

=3: Paul Vaughan and Ligi Sao: 5 games

There are two more players tied on five matches apiece: with one of them Warrington prop Vaughan.

Vaughan collected five games across two separate incidents, a two and a three-game ban. Meanwhile, Sao was banned on four different occasions in 2024, more than any other player, picked up five games himself.

2. Liam Byrne: 6 games

Wigan prop Liam Byrne is second in this unfortunate list! His red card for an incident against St Helens in Rivals Round earned him a four-match ban – with another two matches later in the season for another head contact charge.

However, Byrne isn’t top – that honour goes to a former Warriors player..

1. Michael McIlorum: 7 games

Super League’s most banned player in 2024 was Catalans Dragons hooker Michael McIlorum, who will become a Hull KR player in 2025.

McIlorum, like Sao, picked up suspensions for four different charges throughout the course of the campaign. His first and most significant came in the opening round of the season; a four-match ban for a Grade E Head Contact incident against Warrington.

There were then three more charges, with three more one-match suspensions to add up to a total of seven.