Nothing wrong with the refs talking to the players, but i do agree the play the ball needs sorting out.
Just call held, no dominant takles

stop players moving off the mark when playing the ball (wigan started this years ago but every superleague team is at it now)
Stand up before playing the ball.
There needs to be a second official managing the play the ball to keep it clean and scrums and drop outs are just an excuse for the team under pressure to slow the game. The officals are happy for this to happen.

The moving off the mark is the biggest blight on the game at the moment and is hardly ever penalized at all . Hicks officiating last night was a joke . 2 seasons ago he hardly ever got a televised game so it just shows how far backwards the reffing has gone now he is doing semi final footy . I would love to sit through games with the referee's controller and get his views on some of the garbage decisions being made . And lastly lets get rid of the ridiculous refs call on if it is a try or not and go with the video ref , therefore getting the most probable outcome rather than the onfield ref is probably wrong but i can't prove it so will have to go with him .

There are so many things that are wrong with the game at the moment, especially on the field, the game doesn't even resemble a RL game half the time, it's just too messy and the authorities must take the blame as they have let things go to an extent where it's almost an acceptable part of the game now, like diving and falling over in football is. a grip needs to be gotten for it to stop and become a good clean game or rugby league again.

Yes agree with you and can we go back to the scrums how they used to be now its chuck it in to the back row and get on with it the scrum was far better in the old days down the middle and let the hookers try to get it out

At the moment our scrums are a way of getting the ball back into play and removing 6 players from the defensive line. Go back to how they where and they would become more like RU scrums with all the mess that brings, add the fact that without the 2 flankers to hold the scrum together ours would be more liable to end up with the second row push through the front row increasing the chances of injury. This would also means forwards would need to spend a chunk of training working on scrummaging to the detriment of other areas such as ball handling.

Even the scrums of yesteryear weren't great and it's hard to remember when a ball was put into the centre of the scrum (although I can still remember penalties being given for "feeding", it's been a long time though).

The messy area of the game is around the ruck though and it would certainly help the game to clean up this area.
Players coming in late, players moving off the mark, deliberately holding the attacking player down and the tackler being held by the tackled player.
These are all areas where the game needs to be cleaner plus, managing the 10 metres.
Some teams seem to get away with murder most of the time and it's frustrating to watch.

Also, some of the play acting needs stamping out, or we will end up like football plus, haranguing the ref, which happens in almost every game now and is the easiest for the officials to sort out.

Either march the team back 10 metres or sin bin the offending player, it would cease instantly.

Reasonable and logical, the only problem is that refs selectively do it. You get the big names or big name teams, the captains and the ones who never shut the up who the ref seems to give help to then the 'smaller' clubs or lesser known players are just left to be penalised as the ref has selectively chosen not to coach those players into not conceding a penalty.

Another bad one with the refs is that they'll let blatent offences go and go and go and go then penalise one random one for the same thing that's been going on and say "that's the fourth time you've done that and I've had enough of it!" - well if you'd penalised it the first time Mr Referee everyone wouldn't be blatantly ignoring the rules and making the game a ing mess!

It's the rucks though that are the worst. They're a disgraceful mess!

Should refs tell players theyre offside or to clear the ruck. Surely they shouldnt coach teams who know the rules and try to bend them. If they get caught out its theyre own fault. For me the ref should shout held and give the tacklers a pre determined amount of seconds to clear the ruck. Think its players staying on their feet but making no progress whilst trying to offload the ball that creates the mess and results in messy tackling trying to put em down. As does the act of the defender grabbing the ball carriers ankle as they get up.
the flat pass is my pet hate as it has allowed a lot of unpunished forward passes .
Dont mind hearing the ref explain decisions in the game but would like to see em explain dodgy decisions after the game but that will never happen.
Aussie fans etc also complain about reffing so its not endemic to sl( or most sports for that matter)

When you constantly read about ALL the problems on the field and the things that happen their is always one CONSTANT!!!!!
It's the players, no one else is creating and causing the problems. It's not the match officials, it's not the fans, it's not the coaches , on the field it's the PLAYERS.
Why people can't understand this is beyond me but then I suppose it's like the reaction to speeding. Try and get away with it, get caught and blame the speed cameras or police for catching you but the driver is never at at fault. That of course is total b@ll**

you're partially correct, it is the players and coaches who are causing the problems.
however only the refs can stop them. penalise all over the top dissent, which they now mostly ignore, and it will stop. penalise players who move miles off the mark and it will stop.
same as refs in football. they let holding go on in the box for years, now they are clamping down on it players are having to change the way they defend

To use your analogy it's like driving at 40 in a 40 zone for most of the time but then getting caught by a speed camera that's been changed to 30.
Thats why the refereeing is important.

Of course the players share some blame, as do coaches, I don't know why you're so keen to absolve them of responsibility. But it's about how to best change the behaviour of the players and coaches.

It would seem reasonable to suggest that the refereeing and disciplinary are the best tools to change that behaviour in many circumstances.