Saints were great as they have been all year, nobody is trying to deflect from that, at this point they have been far and away the best team, that doesn’t take away from the ref was pathetic and out of his depth FOR BOTH TEAMS !!!! I’d have thought being a saints fan your ego has been massaged enough all year by the sky team but it seems not.

Side note: I (and most other fans I speak to) really don’t care if you or Hull, Leeds, Wigan or Warrington fans think of us, iv been a member on here a long time and up until the last few years all I heard was how it would be great if someone else challenged the status quo and how little Cas were most peoples second team, now we’re tryig to build a winning mentality and are up there we are showing ourselves up as a club, Darryl Powell is the devil and Luke Gale is the most arrogant rugby player ever and last year we only won at home regularly because we our pitch was too small. Funny that isn’t it ? Shove your RL family

The problem is that apart from Powell and a few Cas fans everyone else thought the ref was ok - what part of this don’t you understand?

When any coach, player, or anyone else acting in an official capacity criticises a match official for his/her performance in public it diminishes the game as a whole: we all lose. The point of criticism is for the object of that criticism to learn from their mistake - it should happen in private, at a match review session, with all interested parties contributing. That way we stand a chance of attracting more match officials to the sport, and of raising and maintaining a high standard of performance over time. It won’t stop individual below par performances in individual matches; referees are human, like coaches and players. But it will help to minimise the number of times that happens, as well as inculcating a better culture throughout the sport. Coaches have a particular responsibility in this regard. Powell’s sullen interview on Sky was unacceptable, acting directly against the interests of the sport; there are better (and more civilised) ways for him to have made his point.

Maybe, just maybe he wouldn't have had to resort to making a comment in public if Steve Ganson actually agreed to a meeting once in a while? He's consistently rejected any offer of a meeting to discuss certain decisions/lack of consistency in the game.


When the head of the refs is so up his own backside he doesn't want to hear valid criticism, what are the coaches actually meant to do?

The problem with a coach blaming the ref is that he is giving his players an excuse for losing.

It's not the ref who missed tackles or dropped the ball over the line.

The players should be looking at themselves to sort out their shortcomings but now they can shrug their shoulders as if it wasn't their fault.

No idea whether the Ganson allegation is true or not but criticising refs after a win would certainly cut more ice than whining after a defeat - particularly following a TV game where most decisions were shown to be correct. If Powell's aim was to improve standards - which I doubt - he couldn't have picked a worse platform or a worse way to go about it.

You need to get rid of the victim mentality.

The problem with you and DP trying to criticise the ref is he really wasn’t bad at all so trying to make out he was bad for both teams is disingenuous. Have you watched the game back?

By bringing the referees performance into question Powell is giving an excuse for his players performance and whether you like it or not it takes away from the actual game itself and the performance. I’m not denying that the quality of officiating is poor but RL is a difficult game to referee and it’s being overused. Chris Kendall was good on the whole he got most decisions right and kept the penalty count low, I’m not sure what you’re wanting. The constant criticism of referees after good performances needs to stop, it doesn’t help anyone

He wanted to meet with Ganson last week after the Magic game where it was Kendall. So I really wouldn't be shocked if his problems with Kendall were from previous and something in the Saints game compounded it.

Get over yourselves, jeez

Take it as a compliment. Fans of top clubs want to see new challengers but obviously they aren't going to want them to overtake their club are they? If people start to take a dislike to you that generally means you are considered a threat. I have always enjoyed Hull v Cas games anyway, but now that we are both up there and there is a bit more needle it makes them more enjoyable still. A proper meaningful rivalry is developing and the more of those the better.

I don't like the way Powell conducts himself alot of the time. If he isn't complaining about refs he is telling everyone how poor his team were. It seems that complimenting the opposition is really hard for him. Other than that I have no issue with Cas. Some fans got carried away and became a bit arrogant last year, but that's ok, it was a great season. Of all the teams that have a realistic shot at winning anything Cas would still be my second choice if it can't be Hull.