TOP Giants forwards Keith Mason and Scott Moore will miss tomorrow’s final home game of the regular Super League season against Wigan Warriors (3.00) for disciplinary reasons.
The duo have been left out of coach Nathan Brown’s 19-man squad pending an internal investigation into an alleged breach of club discipline.
Neither the club nor the players will be making any further statement, although sources suggest the action could have been taken in relation to the players’ behaviour at the Monday civic reception following the Giants’ Challenge Cup final defeat to Warrington Wolves at Wembley on August 29.
It’s a significant action because the top duo are among the Giants’ most consistent performers – Chris Thorman was the last player to be stood down in 2002 – and their absence will make the task of securing a win for possible third place in the table that much tougher.
At the start of the week tough prop Mason was named the Coaches’ Player of the Year at the club’s end-of-season presentation night, while hooker Moore was in the England side that beat France in Paris in the mid-season Test in June.
The suspension is a particularly bad blow for Moore, who is returning to St Helens at the end of the year following his season-long loan at the Giants, as he may now have played his last game for the club at the Galpharm.
That’s because this season’s eight-team play-off format means the Giants will be away in their Grand Final Elimination clash if they win their opening play-off game at either leaders Leeds or second-placed St Helens next weekend.
With Moore ruled out, Brown has called up 19-year-old hooker Keal Carlile, who has impressed.
