But in the amateur leagues the coaches do not have a journalist stick a mic under the coaches nose and demand an interview immediately post match.

McDermotts interview was actually good viewing as these things go, whether we agree or not. If I were a coach I would answer every question Bill Arthur posed with "I cannot give an opinion for fear of sanction". How long would Sky put up with that? If there is going to be a post match interview I want to know what the coaches really think, not the usual sound bites and cliches, McDermott's post match interview was the only time in years I've seen that.

And I repeat IMO he was guarded enough that he didn't criticise the referee in the crass way Nathan Brown did at the weekend.

Yep. And McDermott's comments don't even come close to the abuse some refs get from some coaches in the amateur game.

Agreed. And to give McDermott the same punishment as that given to Lolesi who used foul and abusive language toward the ref is unfair in my opinion.

Phil Clarke on Boots 'n' All stats programme the other week showed them and it showed Mac was right in what he'd claimed. Cannot remember the exact ratio but I think it was something along the lines of Catalans have been awarded 4 x as many penalties at home per game than all other home teams in SL over the last 4 seasons

Genuine question - did the RFL fine Bernard Guasch and Trent Robinson for their "everyone is against us" rants about penalty counts after Leeds put them out of the playoffs?

Honestly can't remember.

AG-No they didn't nor did they when daniel Anderson had his Ian Smith meltdow and just by coincidence Smith never reffed ST's at home again that year.

the rfl is so inconsistent,everyone clearly wants one rule for all do they not?
the above highlighted comments were far more serious indiscretions than what mac did or did not say imo
it would be funny if the next time mac was interviewed after a game by sky if he just kept replying "i can't answer that one bill"
afterall isn't that what the rfl want to hear from coaches so that they don't have to hand the fines out

I personally think Brian Mac wasn't critical enough of referees early in his tenure, even when poor decisions obviously played a part in a Leeds defeat. Psychological warfare plays a massive part in any sport nowadays, a club that doesn't utilise it is at a massive disadvantage. Shaun Wane went big on it last season, while Nathan Brown has pressurised the authorities for years. Don't kid yourself that the outburst from Catalans Dragons last season didn't influence the RFL and officials in there latest game against Leeds. Ian Smith epitomised an official feeling the heat psychologically when he awarded the Leon Pryce "try". Everyone else in the world could see the ball wasn't grounded and Leeds should have been awarded a penalty as Joel Moon was pushed off Pryce as he attempted to tackle him. This wasn't a spur of the moment, heat of the battle, not sure I saw it decision. It was a calculated disregard of RL rules as Smith watched the replay 8 or 9 times and clearly saw the Catalans player commit the offence. Why did he cheat and allow the Catalans infringement to go unpunished ? You know the answer, I know the answer and Brian Mac knows the answer. It is a good job there was no screen at the game because I'm sure Mcdermott would've landed himself in a lot of trouble had he seen the Pryce "try" that Ian Smith awarded. I don't think anyone can quantify how much of Man Utds' success has been due indirectly to the pressure Ferguson has heaped on match officials and the FA. He has been a master of psychological warfare that has made his players task so much easier. I think the RFL have been harsh on Mac, I await their judgement on Nathan Brown calling Bentham a "dumbo", especially as he has plenty of form for shooting his gob off. I think in light of what Mac said Brown could be looking at thousands considering his history.

Brown's namecalling is the lesser offence IMO. Brian McDermott's comments - and I'm a big fan of his, by the way, so have no agenda against him - were clearly calling the integrity of the referee into question as opposed to claiming he'd been fooled, which is essentially what Nathan Brown was doing.

McDermott is a successful SL coach, with years of experience in the game. If he is seeing systemic failure in officiating its not only right that he sheds light on it, it is his duty to do so.

BM identified an issue and asked it to be looked in to, he clearly and deliberately distinguished the officiating and decisions in that particular game from the systemic issue he spoke about. McDermott didn’t question the officials integrity, he questioned why a pattern, outside the norm, had developed. Its exactly what he should do.

Brown on the other hand whilst he certainly didn’t question the refs integrity, he quite clearly questioned their competence.

As a question of consistency, how often do we hear coaches, commentators, players saying how the southstand gets on a referees back, and pressures him, The inference there is no different from what McDermott did

Pretty much agree with all but the second para, which is utter rubbish unless we saw different interviews. McDermott didn't question why a pattern outside the norm had developed, his implicit criticism was that the ref had been pressurised into giving a disproportionate number of penalties to les Cats. If other coaches have said similar re the South Stand then they too should be charged.

"Catalans get awarded more penalties than anyone else in the competition, and they have done for the last two years.

"I coached the London team for four years and they were awarded the least amount of penalties for four consecutive years. That is a big issue when you come to Catalans.

"To be consistently awarded the most penalties when they play at home, I think that would need addressing. At one point the penalty count was 15-3, I thought we did remarkably well to overcome that.

"I'd like to be clear, I don't think that Catalans play well due to them getting penalties, they are a very good team."

Thats the issue McDermott brought up, why Les Catalans were regularly getting a lot of penalties and home, not specifically in that match.

Where's the evidence to back this statement up?


And this?

If you've no evidence to back up those statements, just say so.

It actually wasn't just based on what happened during that game. On the morning of the match their was an interview up on the YEP website where he brought up the issue about Catalans penalty count before the team had even flown over to France so it was something he had lined up to say before the kick-off.