Hicks?!? Christ on a bike. Get ready for him wanting the first 60 minutes played at a million miles per hour and suddenly letting teams take as long as they want. Offsides will be non existent and stop/start rugby throughout.

Does he even know what offside is.

Although I'm extremely surprised at the appointment of Hicks, I've come to the conclusion in recent years that it doesn't matter who the referee is in Finals as they are clearly under instruction to keep the number of penalties as low as they possibly can. This doesn't suit us and our attempts to play the game as quickly as possible.

He will blow for penalties in the opening salvo's and then let things ride later in the game. Don't be surprised if he is blowing the pea out of it in the first 10 mins.

As long as he doesn't get injured and Mr Bentham doesn't have to come on the field, it'll be just fine!

i wanted thaler..

Since Thursday night, Thaler has been under house arrest, and is not allowed near any windows with undrawn curtains, should any Stains fans want to do an Edward Fox in Day Of The Jackal.

It would have been worth having Thaler just to hear Eddie's reaction.

The culmination of the season, the biggest game of the season, the final to decide the Super League Champions 2016 should be reffed by the best ref available. Hicks!

One of the best i have seen this year is Gareth Hewer , who reffed Wembley.

Its an absolute joke , 2 years ago they would not even give him a sky live game , he has not improved and whilst the standard overall has gone downhill i can only think of Child and Cobb who are worse

Should have been Hewer. Bentham is good, even if a bit egotistical. I've also rated Campbell.

Hicks, Thaler, Childs are all too full of themselves - faux Clattenbergs without the ability.

Puts tin hat on.

I think we currently have the best roster of referees, in my RL watching lifetime.

Compare them with

a. The outandout bias of the late 70's to mid 80's, with the likes of Kershaw, Campbell, Robin (very apt) Whitfield and the biggest ladies pocket of them all, Biased Billy Thompson.

b. The incompetance of Colin Morris and the Connolly twa...I mean twins, and the bias of John Smith.

c. The arrogance of the likes of Cummins, Klein, Ganson and Ronnie(press-ups in front of the South Stand) Laughton .

As in the words of Harold McMillan,[iyou've never had it so good[/i

I have to gloss past a and B, whilst I was watching (since, 1989) I was too young to understand refereeing incompetence really, but I would agree with you from as far back as I can remember. To be fair I think the standard of refereeing has improved this season but there is still a long way to go before it can be considered good, in fact there is a long way to go before it can be considered adequate.

how dare you..youve left out stan wall