Can anyone explain why our try at the end of the first half was disallowed? As I see it, Joe passed forward and the ball was caught before the ball hit the floor or an opponent therefore it would be a forward pass, and the video ref could not possibly action anything about this under their own rule? Answers please

He gave a knock-on I think, but I stand to be corrected. That thought did cross my mind too though.

Pushing the ball forward with your fingers is not considered a pass in RL, but classed as a knock on!

Good point, and one I missed. In terms of justice it wasn't a try because it was a yard forward off Westy's hand. You're right though - they can't use the video ref for forward passes.

Unless it's a Cas decision and a Wakey ref of course.

No attempt to pass was made, knock on.

Looked like a rush-pass attempt to me. It probably needed a different shirt colour to make it look convincing though.

unless your warrington..

It was the same as the Leeds disallowed try against Bradford at Easter.

It was a knock on. He never had control of the ball at any stage for it to be called a pass. The ball hit his hand and went forward and was caught by another player.

Knock on.

I don't think anyone's saying it should have stood, mate. Natural justice concedes there was an infringement in play which ruled out the try. TBH though, it seems a little oblique to infer that infringement was in fact a 'clear knock on', purely to justify the act of going to the screen. It certainly wasn't clear by any definition, and for Thaler to miss so much else in the game yet pick up on this particular nuance of this particular play seems a tad beyond the credible for me. It strikes me that, ordinarily, a ref would have either called that play as forward on the spot (the 'just' outcome, in this case) or - much more likely - would have let the try stand.

TBH I think in a non TV game they would probably have blown straight away and the fans would hav gone mad.

There was quite a lengthy debate about this after that Leeds game, with some fans claiming the VR couldn't disallow it as it was a pass rather than a knock on, and he can;t rule on a forward pass.

My take on it (and obviously the ref's too) is that the player (in both cases) did not have hold of the ball, so isn't actually passing the ball. If it is deemed the ball has gone forward it is a knock on. IMO in instances like this, unless the player has held the ball at any stage then the VR is well within his rights to call a knock on.

As you stated, the ball clearly went forward (I only watched on TV but called it instantly, and was glad that he got over the line, as had he been stopped short and you scoring on the next tackle, it would have stood).

My point saying it was a clear knock on was not to be dismissive, but when you look at it, it hit's his hand, and travels forward, collected by another player, remove the whole debate about whether this is a pass and that has 100% of the characteristics of a knock on.

The call went to the video ref so Thaler can't be the one to blame. He asked if there was a knock on in the build up and the video ref deemed Westerman did indeed knock the ball forward. As someone said he didn't attempt to pass the ball at all, the ball came off his hand and went forward then Ferres caught it, ruling knock on. Good game for the cameras again, Wire certainly a side on the up, thought you missed Shifty a lot. The way to beat Warrington is by passing the ball out to the fringes, out there their defence is appalling with players hanging back, others shooting in its just a shambles. every time you moved the ball they looked bamboozled. Top game from Owen and if McGoldrick concentrated on the game more instead of the refs calls and stuff he'd be even better than he already is.

...As a forward pass no doubt?


I think you're missing the point. The thread's not about how we choose to debate 'what was'.. the thread's about how the ref could have possibly been sharp enough to call this particular alleged knock on or not. Especially when he's proved himself to be not particularly 'sharp' over he course of any given full 80 this year.

I'm sure that (broadly speaking) Wire fans will be happy to give Thaler the benefit of this particular doubt (while at the same time calling him blind for numerous other incidents) and Cas fans will refuse to believe that anyone could ever be so insightful after proving himself so inept at spotting the run of the mill decisions during the game's other 79.9 minutes.

Still. Sh*t happens....

It is a huge grey area this one for me and I've raised it before, only as it infuriates me how illogical it is.
No-one doubts that the correct decision was made as anyone watching could tell immediately tht the ball went forward from Westy, BUT if a video ref can adjuge that the ball went forward from Westys hand and into Ferres' without touching the floor then surely to God the video ref can make decisions on forward passes.
Also, if it's not a forward pass, but a knock on, is there even such a thing as a forward pass all forward? Surely all forward passes are knock on's. The mind boggles!!

A pass is deliberate and a knock on is accidental.