Wigan Warriors and St Helens make appeal decisions on Brad O’Neill, Moses Mbye bans

Wigan Warriors will be without Brad O’Neill for Friday night’s derby against St Helens – but the Saints are hoping to free Moses Mbye up after opting to appeal his suspension.

O’Neill and Mbye were handed one-match bans following separate incidents in their fixtures over the weekend, meaning both teams were handed a major blow in the run-up to this weekend’s meeting of Super League’s top two.

Wigan have ultimately decided they will not appeal O’Neill’s suspension, leaving them with a real shortage of options in the hooking role, as Kruise Leeming remains injured.

“We’re not going to appeal, no,” Matt Peet said.

“I’ve got my own opinions about the charge and the tackle but from the discussions we’ve had, I don’t feel like there’s much hope for getting Brad off. I’d rather direct our energy elsewhere – I’d rather move on.

“We’re going to look into our pathway, a few players in the juniors who will probably get an opportunity.”

However, the Saints are determined to free Mbye to play in the game. They, unlike Wigan, have opted to contest Mbye’s suspension – meaning he will attend an appeal hearing on Tuesday evening.

If successful, Mbye will be cleared to play but if not, the Saints could also be facing their own shortage in the hooking department.

Daryl Clark did not feature in the Saints’ 21-man squad that lost to Castleford Tigers on Friday evening meaning that both teams could be forced to field unconventional options at nine for one of the biggest games of the entire season.

“We’ve got Moses on a one-game ban but we will be contesting that,” Paul Wellens said.

“I’m not going to sit here and plead the case as to why but we’re not contesting because we’re playing Wigan away – we’re contesting because we feel we have a case.”

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