Wow he had a shocker tonight. The most shocking incident was when he clearly waved the tackle count down when Dawson recovered the ball, which led to him taking the tackle. To then go back on that decision and give it as a handover is ridiculous and surely can't be done?

His management of the line was also ridiculous. He was taking the Giants back way too far then letting them move well before the play the ball began. More often than not he couldn't even see the play the ball as he had two or three men in front of him. It is a lazy and dangerous way to manage the 10 as it leads to some massive collisions.

He seemed angry all night, like he'd had no sleep and had just been dumped by his Mrs. He seemed determined to go against the obvious.

As for the game. Wow, high on excitement, low on quality. Our defence is a major worry, we simply couldn't defend the line for a set tonight. Fortunately their defence was just as bad and Brough made all the wrong choices. His second kick after the chip was madness and his attempt at the penalty was shocking. Mose should get praise for another big performance tonight. His drives pre drop goal were great, match winning impact in a big game again.

That was ridiculous. The Sky team kept going on about whether it was played at or not, but that was neither here not there. Whatever happened, the ref wiped the tackle count clean, Saints played accordingly, and then he suddenly changed his mind. Hudds scored from the resulting possession (just like they did every time they got a fresh set in our half).

He was awful. How many times did Huddersfield have a second attempt at the tackle only for Thaler to shout 'get up and play it' even thou the saints player had 2 hands in his face on the floor. It was pathetic, one of the worst ref performances i have seen in a long time.

Now we know how the Giants have the best defence in super league slowing the ruck area right down and moving up offside. Thaler turned a blind eye to it all most of the time, I think in one short spell the giants had 2 markers at the PTB but Thaler wash,t bothered.
The ref standard is getting worse every season, its all about "playing the ref" these days knowing what you can get away with, problem is the Saints are not very good in this department.

We had more than our fair share of issues. But looking at Huddersfield tonight and given the fact that we are the closest team to them defensively speaking we really have to put our issues into the context of the league.

If Saints' defence is poor then fans at all those clubs behind us really must have witnessed some diabolical stuff.

Well, another shocker from Thaler!! I don't know why I am so surprised really! Those idiots on sky debating whether it should be or shouldn't be 6 more?? That was not the point at at all. The clown waved to restart the tackle count, the saints players checked and so went into the tackle. Should have been play on whether it was the right call or not. There is no way saints would have took the tackle if he hadn't waved his hand to wipe the tackle count, a kick of sorts would have been made. The standard of refereeing is getting worse, but I bet he is not questioned over it. Players, coaches, CEO's etc.. are all accountable for their actions. Its about time that these clowns in the middle are too! Hope you don't mind me coming on and posting, but it infuriated me so much watching it on Sky that I couldn't resist posting when I saw the thread regarding it. Oh, and slightly off topic, I thought Roby was MOM by a country mile last night, but how long can he keep putting those minutes in? Quinlan backs up superb down the middle, but how far back does he stand??!! His one on one defence looks weak also (but he did only get off the plane a few days ago)

I cannot believe you lot are moaning about offside. In that first 15 minutes when we were pressing your line not one saints player was behind him- he set the precedent right there. And continued it every time we were near your end. The giants fans were screaming at him. In fact ironically if you had of been onside you would have been able to prevent jerrys try. The incident you refer to was a bad mistake by him as, yes, you would have kicked, but it was the right decision he made in the long run as that ball wasn't played at by Murphy. He was poor- But aren't they all with the way the game is played now.

The point isn't whether the desision was correct or not but the fact that he changed his mind. This affected Saints play at that point. we probably would have kicked and not dropped on the ball.

I very very rarely mention the ref after a game as it's pretty much accepted now that every single official in super league is dog awful at the moment and both sides usually have to put up with their fair share of baffling and outrageous decisions. But this really annoyed me enough to post a facebook status about it! (The horror!).

How can a ref wave the tackle count down, watch a player then take the tackle and then change his mind? What a bloody idiot. If he sticks with his original decision, we get a set in their half. If he says it's still the 5th, then we kick and Hudds get the ball deep in their own half. But instead he calls one and changes it, directly affecting our play, giving Hudds the ball in our half which they then score from! It's amateur stuff. Would you even see that in the amateur leagues??

Don't have a problem with the referees making a mistake as it happens (a LOT). But this was just utterly farcical.

no mention of the 2 50/50's in the final few minutes?
considering the knock on against Robinson led to the field position for the winning drop goal
could have gone wither way i thought,

Can`t believe these complaints from Saints fans, I think the Giants fans have more to complain about, as Saints scored from a blatant obstruction and a stripped ball off Robinson should have been a penalty or play on as the ball went backwards. Having said all that I believe Thaler is one of the best refs this season as he doesn`t get taken in by dying swans diving on the floor wanting a penalty and he does try to keep the game flowing. Yes I was annoyed as Saints had the luck for the position for the drop goal, but I think the Saints fans were frustrated because of the thrashing they got the week before at Leeds and were expecting their team to inflict a resounding defeat on the Giants and nearly ended up defeated again which they very nearly were, and would have been if we had finished our chances better.

Tbf I wasn't too concerned about the ref. Thought he did ok.

But when he clearly wiped the tackle count down and then let Dawson take the tackle before changing his decision was one of the most bizarre things I've ever seen. It led to a try too which makes it even more frustrating.

Just did a replay last night of the match, Thaler wash,t as bad as first thought viewing from the stands. There were a couple of incidents with loose carries on either side which went into that grey area of lost ball or interference.
The change of decision was indeed a bizarre one because the ref looked in a better position than the touch judge, on the whole Thaler controlled the match reasonably OK ish, at the end of the day it was the Giants lack of composure those first 15 minutes to make the most of the opportunities they created.

that was the biggest decision of them all, it saints favour!

surely it went backwards!

correct, we failed to take the chances we made in the first half. 4/5 went begging, game would have been over, need to learn, but its getting late in the season now