I wonder if Powell has got an offer from the pies, and his behaviour has confused his way of thinking.

What's he going to be like if Saints hammer them for a 4th time this season

Fair enough if that's your experience of Wane, he's generally been ok when we've beaten them in recent years though. I never mentioned McDermott as he too blames the ref more often than I'd like.

I agree McDermott does comment on officiating more than I'd like but I think he more has a go at the game in general, he often does this even after a win rather than just blaming the ref who reffed that particular game which they lost. (if that makes sense?)

I think with Wane, not sure exactly when but someones clearly been in his ear about what he says and how he says it. He's generally been quite pragmatic and rational recently.

We all want to rationalise it and say that when our own coach does it, it's justified and reasonable - but when any other club coach does it, we consider it unreasonable and inappropriate. The fact is, no Head Coach should be standing in front of a TV camera criticising a referee - there are channels available to them to properly raise concerns, quite aside from the fact that public criticism of match officials is a breach of operational rules.

What decisions was he angered about in the press conference.

don't know why you have brought Mcdermott into this, i can only remember him once being really critical of the ref and that was a catalan away game about 5 years ago. he may have had one or 2 snipes but who as not in fact mcdermott often goes out of his way to not blame the ref.

From what I recall the penalty given against Roberts for his play of the ball with lomax on him (50/50 for me), the Mcmeekan "tip" Where the saints lad ended up on his back (again 50/50 for me) and there was a kick chase where Ellis got flattened by a chaser and nothing given. They could have gone our way they didn't. That said they were 50/50s that didn't go our way and the players need to respond better and not feel sorry for themselves. I dare say Powell ranting about the ref will not fully help the players lose this soft sorry attitude they have when the chips are down. In a competitive RL game you ain't always going to have it your way. Get on with it. Disappointed in Daryl's interview but it is what it is.

I think those are more frustrating incidents rather than controversial, we,ve had similar ones with our Luke Douglas and LMS in playing the ball. It really needs to be stamped out were the opposition are still messing about when the ball is being played.
D.P. would have some justification if there was 6 point margin in the end result then the 50/50 's become more critical, perhaps D.P. like the cas fans have watched the game again and have seen some of the play a bit differently.

Yeah I totally agree. Don't start banging on about small incidents when we've been thumped 40 18 of which flattered us with late points when the cue was well and truly rested.

I watched the game last night on tv and at no point did I feel angered. Perhaps that was because I had the benefit of replays and stuff. Can understand why many assumed swift was a knock on who were there at the time. Fans can boo all they like and blame officials that's what fans do. But Powell is a professional coach.

Exactly fans are going to be one sided and blame all and sundry. No issues with that, pros with the benefit of TV replays should be better.

Maybe he is frustrated at the fact his top players are out and so the team are under performing from what he expected.

Saints played very well...... correct

Our defense resembled 13 drunk men playing the game for the first time...... correct

The referee was rubbish and the standard is pathetic compared to 10 - 20 years ago despite being full
Time and paid more ..... correct.

What’s the problem ???

No, the referee was not rubbish you want him to be to overshadow and deflect from Saints good performance and Cas’ poor one (yes I read your first two sentences). Powell’s exact words were ‘we couldn’t get a decision until the game was gone where we got one or two’. That sums it up for me, sore loser and taking his anger out on the referee. The penalty count was even despite Saints having more ball and Cas had a try incorrectly allowed. Your delusional and completely idiotic if you think the referee was against Cas last night. Cas as a club made themselves look like a laughing stock with the constant moaning about decisions that were correct. Booing after Morgan’s first try summed when Swift was quite clearly not in touch. Pathetic and also sore losers. Learn the rules and shut up would be my advice to Powell and the fans.

With every defeat DPs stock is reducing and he don't like it, hence the dummy spitting.

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