Wigan chairman Ian Lenagan yesterday dismissed calls for forward Ben Flower to be sacked following his Grand Final attack on St Helens’ Lance Hohaia.

Flower has been banned for six months by the Rugby Football League for punching a prone and motionless Hohaia after just two minutes of Saturday’s Super League showpiece at Old Trafford.

The incident has become a national talking point and the severity of the punishment — which is the longest ban in Super League history — a subject of debate.

Some critics have even suggested Wigan should take a tough stand and dismiss the 25-year-old, but Lenagan has assured the prop he has a future at Wigan Athletic’s Stadium.

Lenagan said: “Ben Flower made a mistake, and I say very clearly, ‘Let any one of us who has not made a mistake stand forward.’ I have made mistakes, players make mistakes.”