CENTURIONS skipper Adam Bristow has been sensationally cleared to play in the later stages of the NFP play-offs writes Mike Hulme

The influential loose-forward, originally banned for two games, had his suspension halved on appeal on Tuesday night.

The Aussie must still sit out Sunday's Preliminary Semi-Final at Huddersfield but will be back for either the Grand Final or Major Semi-Final.

But Leigh's hard-man prop Vila Matautia will miss the next two games after being banned for striking in the final game at Dewsbury almost two weeks ago.

Coach Paul Terzis is delighted to have Bristow available again after this weekend. "The lad's got a smile on his face again," he said. "But we always felt we have case on appeal but the danger was that the judiciary had the power to increase the suspension as well as reduce it.

"But once we'd got the charge reduced from a reckless challenge to a careless challenge, the judiciary could not increase the ban. That's when we decided to press ahead with the appeal.

"We also feel that Vila's suspension is one game too many. He was was clearly the retaliator in the incident at Dewsbury. We will wait until after the Huddersfield result before deciding whether or not to appeal next week."