When was the last time we saw a card for constant interference at the play the ball it's like the rules gone out the window.

Wigan's defence looked very good tonight but that was helped by Thaler's inability to keep them on-side and to stop both teams slowing the play-the-ball.

I'm not saying Saints were squeaky clean but as we had the majority of the possession in the first half it stood out that Wigan were never on-side.

His policing of the play the ball was very poor all night and it's as if the RFL just want the game to become a 'smash-athon' as the defending team always get extra time to get their defensive line set so it degrades to drive after drive.

no wonder justin morgan give him some stick.
at one point he even got the number of plays wrong getting the fifth and fourth tackles mixed up.
complete plonker.

Thats right, wasnt this the wish of the RFL after the world cup to slow our PTB down to bring it in to line with the NRL and create more of a wrestling type PTB, thus giving time for defence to be set and therefore force more skillful attack enableing us to compete at international level?

The play the ball was unbelievably slow.
He got the count wrong.
He missed one or two forward passes.

Wasnt his best night.

well of course you would as this style of refing doesn't play into saints hands!! Of course your gonna be pi$$ed off when the game isn't refed to work to saints advantage!! Saints are always looking for the penalty! all Thailer does is tell teams to shut up and get on with it!! I would much rather see a games that thailer refs as he isn't forever marching teams around the park!! I'm sick of refs like ganson, smith and bentham deciding who wins the arm wrestle with pen after pen!! It's killing the game!!

Its not very often I will bag a ref but last night took the pi$$.

The holding down at the play the ball was as bad as I've seen for a long time.

I think you are letting your hatred of Saints, blind your thinking or just plain trolling. Today's ref decided to not police holding down, and messing about at the play the ball. It is the opposite extreme to giving penalty after penalty. We want something in the middle.

If the referree's were consistent, then they would penalise when the players start taking the , and then the players would learn not to do it. We would have a fast flowing exciting fair game. Teams would have to learn how to slow the game down by skill rather than just holding down for longer or putting their hands in.

I don't hate saints!! I'm not a troll!!

How many unfair ball steals were there?? Not many!! I thought the ruck was pretty steady to say the conditions were very slippy! If you think you are gonna get a quick play the ball in that weather you are in dreamland pal!! Don't worry Leeds have ian smith tonight so we will be back to 20 odd pens so you will see the stop start crap game you crave!! You can breath easy once again

Damn right fella. Thaler was complete garbage. I can see plenty of people saying that Saints fans want it all their own way, but putting it plainly, as the Peter principal dictates "if enough people say it's the case, then it must be so". I personally witnessed thousands of people saying the same thing last night, bloody rubbish and completely inconsistent.

because you don't like it when it all doesn't go your way!!

Don't be soft. If Thaler says 'five' and Wello makes a grubber kick, thinking it's five, then Thaler says 'oops, soz, it was actually four', how exactly is that not liking it because the decision has not gone our way? Regardless of our feelings, the ref made a mistake and that could have cost us a try (prolly not, but in theory it could have). He made a number of similar mistakes, for both sides. This isn't about Saints fans' feelings, it's about the incompetence of this particular ref.

Looking at the season as a whole, and the overall standard of referreeing this season, the play the ball has been slowed down too much.

I was all for a slight ammendment to encourage more creativity from the halfs etc but Ive seen alot of games this season ruined by teams getting away with murder at the ruck.

Saints IMO are the most effective team from dummy half as we have a plethera of players who excell at this particular facet of the game in Roby, KC, Pryce etc. and have been hampered more than most.

Its one call!! The refs do make mistakes!! There are plenty in every game!! At least he said he had got it wrong where other refs don't!! like the pig headed possie!! (Ganson and his numb skull boss cummings)

Like I said before, I am not craving more penalities, or a lightning play the ball so Saints prosper. What I would like is consistency amongst the referee's and a level of fairness. There is a way to slow things down, within the laws of the game and the ref allowed it to go further than that yesterday. He didn't give any penalties for it at all that I remember in the second half. As a result players did more and more to slow things down. Players coming in late, players keeping hold of a foot, or players leaving the arm in. This has nothing to do with the weather. Having rainy conditions slows things down naturally, but the ref gave up doing anything at all.

If referees were consistent then they would penalise players for slowing things down unnecessarily. Then players and coaches would know where they are, and there would be fewer penalties required to be given. This wouldn't be start-stop rugby. Why argue one extreme against another? We want the common sense in the middle.

Yet you are arguing for the ref doing nothing vs the ref giving 20 penalties as if they were the only options. Having a glacially slow play the ball doesn't create a flowing game, just like a penalty fest doesn't. A sensible middle ground is what we need.

Yesterday went too far for me.

Well, yes, exactly. It's about the ref's incompetence, not about Saints' fans' feelings. Like I just said!

And Thaler owning up and saying sorry makes not a smidgen of difference. Since refs nanny players now by doing the counting for them, he should make damn sure he gets the numbers right otherwise he could lose someone a match.

Not that there's a damn thing anyone could do about it. Our refs are entirely lacking in accountability, which IMO is entirely wrong.