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.

Not sure how relevant your first point was to the actual topic but as a general statement it’s spot on.

When Cas froze in last years GF you could positively feel the combined joy from Leeds, Wigan and Saints fans in general and most especially those who love the status Quo!!! Even better that Cas are not appearing as good as last year which just validate their snobbish opinions.

That’s not fair but as there are numerous reasons for Cas slight dip in form. Hoe er the Ref isn’t one and blaming him makes the whole club look stupid and just reinforces the elitists.

Ditto my own club Trinity - we won’t exactly lay down and die far from it but results have not gone our way and we are on possibly six points less than perhaps we might of been.

If we’d have been Wigan every week would be endless sob stories and brilliantly constructed excuses. We on the other hand have been dismissed as on season wonders who are slowly but surely heading back where we belong and as you say we will become an obscurity soon enough if we don’t change this season around.

That said our results are of our own making, we’ve had some rough calls and some were even game changes but then who doesnt? We need to respond positively as do Cas and I see absolutely nothing positive in what Powell said and imho he let himself down.

As someone who lives in Cas and was well and truly sick of all the 'Champions' hype including merchandise as shown below, I laughed my 'ickle socks off!!!