While we all to some degree get on the refs backs we need to remember that it’s the coach that at all clubs instructs players to push things to the limit. Player will try anything to slow down the PTB in defence and those attacking will try and milk a penalty for holding down. It must be a nightmare to officiate it consistently.

The 10m rule made the PTB the be all and end all of dominating the game. If you can get a quick play the ball you dominate. It’s as simple as that. Coaches like Bellamy and Maguire and their protégés have turned dominate the PTB into a fine art. The poor refs have a job on to keep up. In Oz they brought in an extra one to cut down on the wrestlemania. So I can see what a difficult job it is. Especially for one man in the middle.

Yeah, I agree with that bullseye.

The balance between attack and defence is what keeps the fans on the edge of their seats, stray too far one way, or the other, and the game suffers as a spectacle. Coaches will always look for ways of......shall I call it, 'getting the best out of rule changes'; that is their job, I suppose. It is a constant battle between the coaches and the administrators, but I still feel that allowing all the transgressions is a slippery slope though, and if it [ireally is[/i necessary, for maintaining this balance, to allow throwing the ball between the legs, then so be it.

The one thing I'd ask is that these changes in the way the game is played are reflected in the rule book and not accepted as weasely [is there such a word?] 'interpretations'. What we have now for instance, with players making a genuine effort [ito pretend[/i to play the ball correctly is just laughable and only allows free ammunition to those who want to do our game down. Or maybe it's a joke and disgrace..

So he's now reffed us in 10 games this year. Today he showed all his regular traits, well documented in this thread. As usual some of his decisions were completely baffling-- not only to me and the fans around me but also to the players of both sides.
A new one for me was when he waved his arm in the air seeming to signal another set of 6 and promptly raised that same arm on the very next play signalling last tackle.
He wasn't the reason we lost but he may represent a reason why people turn away from the game.

I'm not 100% certain, but I think on that occasion he had stopped play VERY briefly and was waving time on. Might be getting confused with a different point in the match though.

That said, two other strange decisions (both of which benefited us) was that bit of play where we had knocked on, Widnes lumped it down field thinking it was a free play, we collected it behind goal and played on when he should have taken it back for a Widnes scrum. Also when Widnes were nearly in for a try with about 15 mins in, but Luke Gale tackled the Widnes man without the ball - should have been a sinbin all day long as Widnes would have been in.

Hicks did ok, he wasn't conspicuous and let the game flow. What I noticed was that as the game wore on and the crowd saw we were struggling and clueless, that was when they started blaming the ref for everything, but it wasn't him. Had a good view of the second incident, Gale had to assume the player would catch the ball, so had to make contact, he did then continue it when maybe he knew the ball was loose, but it wasn't that clear cut a pen to me. Agree the 'play on' looked wrong, unless he saw something I didn't.

Blatant pen;Hicks bottled it; but you will insist you are correct FA. As always.