I only have one question about this ...

Is this going to be the gimmick of 2023 ... which the referees will all lose interest in about five weeks into the season?

On reflection, I suppose I have another question too.

Given the lack of rigour shown by by the video ref in his assessment of the Warrington kick-through to the wing, does this mean the days of video refs spending ages looking for anything they can find to disallow a try are over, or will it be business as usual tonight?

That will depend on whether it is Saints scoring the try or Leeds

I think I am in the minority that actually thought the first 8 point try was the correct decision. I think that Dupree could've avoided making contact the way he did and knew what he was doing.

The second one admittedly was a joke of a decision

Liam Moore is also one of the better referees out there so it didn't surprise me that he didn't take long with his reviews. Of course there may also have been a directive to speed the VR reviews also I guess.

First.one I would have give, but it wouldn't be a ban just a warning on review

The 2nd one is 50/50, all he's doing is trying stop the try and Dufty is very low, it probably is a penalty but nothing defender can do much of he's trying to stop the try so I'm ok with it, but deffo no ban on review

They're definitely trying to.speed up reviews
But the Currie ine was ridiculous, not because it was wrong, but he looked at it once from an average ankge and just went yeah it s a Try, and as the other angle came on he just had to stay silent because he'd already said he made his decision when the other angle put a bit of doubt in.

I'm all for speeding it up, and it's the better of the 2 if compared to the over analysing however they just need to be careful as they make a decision quick, and then blindly refuse to reconsider,.rather than saying nothing, review the incident and then make a decision

You think? I can't stand him. Any neutral game he refs I barely get to the end. He's arrogant and smug and I'm not even sure he is impartial in most of the games he refs. Seems to pick a team and give them everything

I do yeah, I do think he is one of the better ones.

I also think that because he is from Wigan he does seem to give us everything so as not to be accused of anything so maybe that has swayed my thinking

I’m in agreement with your take on the decisions. If the second try is an eight pointer we should expect many more throughout the season. The first one is clear cut, there is foul play after the ball has been grounded. The second is an attempt by the defender to stop the try being scored as the attacking player is falling, where do we draw the line? Should Welsby’s tackle at Castleford have resulted in an eight point try? Not in my view.

Were last night’s decisions a result of Liam Moore’s interpretation of the rules or has the RFL issued a directive?

My understanding is that a 8 point try can only be awarded after a try has been scored. Welsby's could never have been an 8 point try as the try wasn't scored hence why a penalty try was given instead

This.

But it's typical of our judiciary that they've now found another way to make the wrong decisions.

It really sticks in the craw when we've all suffered from the most ridiculous levels of scrutiny in the past, VR's literally performing mental gymnastics for minutes on end in order to disallow tries (the Dan Sarginson long-ranger of a few years ago, on the basis that the tackler who'd dislodged the ball 'knocked it on' when the contact he had with it was highly questionable!) and all of a sudden now, they aren't going to give it any real scrutiny.

Or will this be another 'change' that will last for about one month?

Liam Moore is the best referee atm imo. Jack Smith (Cack ref) said to Liam, I think it's an 8pt try,can u just check and make sure. Both decisions were correct.

I personally think the two 8 point tries we saw in the Warrington game set a dangerous precedent especially with the one on Dufty by Watkins.

If this is how it's going to be done in 2023, we are going to go from a 8 point try being as rare as hens' teeth to seeing them every week and I'm not sure it's warranted or what I want to see.

People are overreacting to this.

It took till thr 7th televised game and 13th game in total for this to kick in, its not like its happening in every game from the first one.

it should be only if deliberate foul play , not in the Watkins incident

The problem is that what is often classified now as deliberate foul play is a world away from the foul play we all knew and recognised 20 years ago.

The much stiffer attitude the judiciary have taken in the 21st century has massively reduced the nonsensical violence that some players specialised in back during 'the good old days', but it could be argued that they're now going too far.

Contact with anything above the shoulder is an automatic penalty, whether it was intended or not. A collision with a kicker after the ball has left his boot can easily result in a yellow card, even though it's often the tackler's momentum that causes the collision.

Overreactions like that are ruining the spectacle of RL as an aggressive contact sport.

If the awarding of 8-point tries becomes a regular thing in 2023, it will be yet another step in that direction. Though as I've already said, I suspect it will be another fad, which they'll have forgotten about by April.

Having now seen TSLS, I agree with the consensus: first one, maybe fair enough, Watkins one was a joke.