Thalers performance tonight, when it came to the KEY decisions was spineless and embarrassing. Like Tony said at the end of the Sky interview, he feels for Ah Van after the punishment he was given. No consistency.

Appears that the refs have been told to just let the games go, Wigan will have fun tomorrow with Waynes cause havoc tactics

Was thinking something similar Geordie. It could get very messy tomorrow night if the precident has been set.

I get the feeling there'll be a call from Red Hall to be a bit more stringent (referee wise).
Although he let the game flow (no bad thing), he got the BIG decision WRONG. The ref is there to oversee and apply the rules. Not to be a fence sitter

Yes, Thaler was very poor when it came to the head tackles. There is a big difference between letting the game flow and simply failing to officiate it. The game could easily have boiled over - and that would have been down to him.

As for the game, yeah it was good to watch, fairly close, great atmosphere, but you can not make that many mistakes against an Aussie team and expect to win.

Unusual to see Joel have an off day. Harrison was excellent both in attack and defence, as was Benny. Wheels is going to cause some grief to SL sides if we can keep him fit. Laithwaite and Evans worked really hard. Nice cameo try from GOB and some good kicking I thought as well. Myler was...well... we will gloss over that. Simms was great, he put his whole heart into that match - you couldn't ask for more. Hill immense as per usual.

Enjoyed that.

I gathered pretty quick that the refs must have been under instruction to just play out the game, i'm glad he did, i wanted us to face St George at full strength with all the bells and whistles, personally i'd like to say thank you to Thaler for reffing it old school, no farting about just brutal rugby.

By SL standards he was abysmal but by the standards i think they should be, belter of a game from BT.
Possibly a yellow for the first but that's it.

Thaler didn't 'let the game flow', he watched St. G flop and lay on in almost every tackle and did nothing.

If this is standard for this WCS then we'll be lucky to get two full sets of 6 in the 80 minutes tomorrow at Wigan...

With one ref you'll always get that

When you see the side on camera angle of the second incident, you'll change your mind as to whether it was 'nothing'. Remember it was this same player who then went on to set up the winning try.

If your attitude is win at all costs, i can understand your frustrations, but i just wanted a 13 v 13 contest v an NRL side, i loved it, glad people stayed on and i'm actually one of the few who enjoyed the way the game was reffed.

I understand what your saying Yed, but the rules on head high tackling are pretty clear. Anyway, when all said and done I'm proud of the way we played tonight (Thaler or not) just a pity we couldn't see it through. Fantastic atmosphere tonight.

Well, if that's what it takes to make a game flow, God help us.
What message is that ref performance sending out?
Aussie appeasers all our refs ... never send an Aussie off, they will take their ball home.
Better up the player insurance after that ... it's hunting season!
Shameful!
No ref should go into a game with a rigid view of 'no penalties'..
He should ref the game as he actually sees it, not lower his standards to avoid penalties.

And all this coaching cum advisory service the refs pursue is bullocks.
If they are infringing, don't warn until you've penalised them.

Warrington spilled to much to win, but that doesn't excuse Thaler.