First he issues 37 penalties in the Millennium Magic derby between Wakefield and Castleford, and then Iestyn Harris is quoted as not being happy with the number of penalties dished out in the game between Quins and Crusaders today.

Is Child an inept referee? The first few games I saw him officiate last year, I thought he did well but as the year went on he became increasingly frustrating to watch.

More often than not, you could probably say that, rulebook in hand, yes, there is a case for most of those penalties being valid. But the question is, does he have the spirit of the game in hand and does his ruthless, textbook approach to refereeing spoil the games he is in control of as a spectacle? Another gripe is that he seems to be following a completely different rule set for the ruck speed when compared to the other (glorious, flawless, infallible paragons of on-field justice) referees.

He's a rubbish touch judge so whoever thought he would make a good ref needs their head checking.

The bloke is an utter joke and must think folk spend their hard earned to watch him. I'd rather a ref officiate a game like Ganson did yesterday, let the game flow!

Well, don't say us folks in the championship didn't warn you

Crusaders did appear to concede more penalties than Quins-Loads for high tackles-Childs warned the Crusaders captain on 2 occasions although didn't sin bin any player.

Im not a great fan of Childs

He was the man who was "substituted" by the Match Commissioner at Castleford in 2009 citing a bad ankle but he ran the line in the second half. We didn't think he'd be back after that debacle but he's somehow lasted another couple of seasons.

The MM game he reffed might as well have been touch rugby. I could swear he was shouting held before contact was made half the time. Take the ball-carrier to the ground and it's a penalty for interference.

James Child thinks that he should be the centrepiece of every rugby league game he officiates. He was utter garbage in the Championship, how on earth he's got fast tracked to Super League is beyond me. I suspect he is Richard Lewis's love child.

never seen him have a good game at Perpignan I have to admit - so many dubious decisions for or against all teams concerned

I felt like shouting out something along the lines of "the players don't respect you, and the fans certainly don't!" as it is clear that all last season he was just not up to it in the eyes of the players, and he has continued to be poor again this season. An average youngster would be dropped to the lower grades if they are going through a bad spell, and from watching most championship games last year it appears there is better available with a number of young referees. He needs to go away and regain a little of what made him a poster boy referee.

agreed,there are some fine refs in the Championship IMO - Mr Hicks & Mr Thomason come to mind - they have both been regular visitors to TO reffing and to Perpignan running the line and I would put either of them ahead of Mr Child.Certainly more consistent anyway.

I'm no defender of Child (or any ref for that matter). In fact I don't know anyone who is. However the Crusaders were spectacularly ill-disciplined in terms of high shots yesterday and should have had a heap more given against them, so not sure what Iestyn Harris has to complain about to be honest. In our first two games we have played two of the most poorly disciplined teams in the league - which is presumably why we've been winning the penalty count. I'm sure normality will be restored at Headingley on Friday.

In the interests of balance Child was pretty poor yesterday as usual - missing the world's most obvious obstruction for their first try and a delightfully unsubtle grapple tackle after we had intercepted a loose pass. He also warned the Crusaders about their persistent high shots and then didn't give another penalty against them for it for the rest of the game. And before you suggest it they most certainly did not clean up their act after that, he simply lost interest.

Seems to be the Graham Poll of RL IMO

Apparently Matt Thomason had a good game at Leigh yesterday. Let the game flow and only awarded the first penalty after 60+ mins.