TONY Smith didn’t say it, but he didn’t really have to.

There are surely reasons why Garreth Carvell should never have been sin-binned against his old club Hull at the KC Stadium on Saturday.

Everyone knew he was going to be public enemy number one going back to his old haunt and the FC fans were on his case from the start.

And you would have thought that Carvell had committed murder, and perhaps chucked in one or two armed robberies too, when he dared to get a little bit physical with FC darling Richard Horne in the opening exchanges.

The big prop’s challenge was around the shoulder but many higher tackles have gone unpunished this season.

But when the roar went up, so did the whistle to Steve Ganson’s mouth.

It’s not the first time a referee has appeared swayed by public opinion of the KC variety.

Paul Rauhihi was yellow-carded last season, Paul Wood was sent off the season before and, most glaringly, you would have thought that Paul Noone deserved a public hanging for the furore he caused after clattering Jason Smith with a perfectly legal tackle that resulted in him going on report in 2003.

So, on Saturday, with only four minutes gone, Carvell found himself harshly on report and in the referee’s bad books.

It was perhaps not one of Carvell’s best decisions to rub his arm in Ewan Dowes’ face in a tackle two minutes later, conceding a penalty that Warrington could have done without but also forcing Ganson in the circumstances to send him to the bin.

However, had Ganson not reacted in the way that he did for the ‘high tackle’ on Horne, Carvell would surely not have been ordered off in the sixth minute.

And, of course, while Carvell was off the field Hull scored their only two tries of the game and Wolves spent the rest of the match trying to catch up.

It was a key talking point after the game and Wolves boss Smith was cautious, as he would have to be to avoid being in trouble with the game’s administrators for offering any disrespect towards an official.

“I don’t know what the records are for the earliest sin-binning in a game of Super League but it’d be up there I reckon,” said Smith.

“I did get a chance to review it. I get to watch a game 12 seconds behind all the time as I have a delayed telecast of the game.

“I’ll have to go and review it again and again and again to come up with a better answer than what I could probably give you at the moment.”

Smith was asked if he felt over exuberance got the better of Carvell on his first return to the KC Stadium.

“I’m not sure that it did,” said Smith, repeatedly.

“I know that there was a lot of noise around at the time.

“When you first saw it, it was probably the first reaction on the first tackle. It wasn’t much and then there seemed to be a reaction. It’s a loud place.”

The Rugby Football League disciplinary chiefs will decide today, after studying video evidence, if Carvell or any other players involved in the game have any charges to defend at Tuesday’s hearing in Leeds.