Conspiracy claims of bias are barking and just make no sense at all. Refs do seem to be getting worse, and Cummings doesn't seem to be having anything like a positive impact. What I think would help is that if Refs were allowed/encouraged to come out to the media and explain why certain decisions had been made (not Cummings doing anything he can to 'prove' the ref was right!) and their thought processes at the time, and holding hands up to say 'Yup, looking at the pictures we probably got that call wrong but at the time we thought this'.

I say this from experience of having lived over the road from an SL ref for a few years who was well known at the time for 'hating' my team. We used to chat about why he'd gave certain decisions that I'd disagreed with and it was always enlightening to see the other side of the story. I'd still sometimes disagree, but my respect for the guy shot right up after getting to know him and how he viewed a game.

I was also very wary of two refs, but having seen that working really well for a while, I think it's the way to go. I know we don't have enough to do it now, but it should be a stated aim and Cummings should have a plan as to how we get there. Pull your finger out Stuart!!

don't let us stop you

Point out where I said I would prefer you to leave Superleague. On the contrary I believe they bring an awful lot to the game. The only issue I have is with the feeling that referees are biased against the Dragons (and only the Dragons). This is patently not true as coaches other than Robinson have made similar accusations. Indeed our last coach Agar was fined heavily for criticising a referee (and I am not an Agar fan, but I believe he was fully within his rights). As I said earlier its a situation no one is happy with, but for the time being (until probably we get rid of Cummins) then its a situation we will have to live with. Sorry if you think this is an attack on the Dragons, its certainly not that.

Right, so because we get a weekend in the sun and can bring back some Jager and fags we need to keep Catalans - despite the moaning and the frankly cynical tactics?

How can Workington et al compete with that?

Seriously? What's suddenly got into Catalans fans? It's as if you've only just realised the reffing is rubbish. Bloody hell we've had rubbish refs for as long as I can remember. My dad can remember as a kid his dad saying the refs would kill the game, and this was back in the 50's.

Stop with this conspiracy rubbish, it's really rather pathetic.

The standard of refereeing in SL is crap - that's a fact; your argument loses credibility though, when you only complain about it in a post-match interview about a game you've just lost.

It's time for an honest conversation between all stakeholders about how to improve things.

Spot on

The standard of refereeing is certainly not "crap". Could it be better? What couldn't? The standard of refereeing in terms of mistakes made is IMHO 1000% better than the standard of the bulk of the players. And it seems to be an obvious fact that on analysis, the vast majority of decisions which fans (and certain commentators) scream for during the match prove to be correct on slo-mo analysis.

I don't agree that the standard of refereeing is crap, but I do think it's time to have that conversation. Too much for a single post on here, so happily I [url=http://littlegrubbers.blogspot.com/2012/08/balance-of-probabilities.htmlexpanded on it here[/url

I think it is - there is little consistency, poor use of available resources and a total lack of transparency or accountability from the top.

I'm not convinced that all of the individuals delivering the service are crap - rather, that the structure they're working within doesn't promote good performance.

Our game of rugby league is a fast game, mistakes will be made by the officials, especially the ones like was the ball stripped or dropped by the ball carrier for example or was he offside or not ? I think we just have to accept human error in these instances for the flow of the game but in my opinion the one that infuriates the fans most of all is when the oposition scores a try where there's a blatent forward pass involved in the build up !! For god's sake, a guy in the street outside knows it's a forward pass !! So everyone knows except the guy in the middle with the white stick and tin can !! If a try is scored the game has stopped. In the time it takes for the ref to make up his mind, look at both his touch judges to see if they're still awake the video ref would almost have the time to have a quick look and help the ref make his decision and most importantly check if there was a forward pass involved it's about time they used the technology at their disposal !!!

I think a part of it is our owner pointing out in a round about way that we are important to SLE in our own way now.