Probably the worst officials in pro sport in the UK! not a clue what is happening checking video ref on everything, cant see high tackles, The RFL must use refs with vitually no expierince of the game!

i take it you didn't grow up watching the likes of kevin allatt, john mean and john holdsworth.the refs today are under immense scrutiny with almost every game televised at the moment. try watching club rugby union for really bad reffing.

Every last call is being scrutinised like me never before at the moment and I guess that’s because we’ve all had to become armchair fans. I didn’t think the ref made any shocking calls last night and Kendall didn’t on Thursday but you’d have thought both were abysmal looking about various forums. I’ll bag them when it’s warranted but it’s gone OTT these past few weeks.

The video refs have been very poor in their support and the disciplinary process is a farce but the on field refs are doing pretty well. To give them some praise, I will say that I thought I saw the best refereeing display in donkeys years by Kendall in that Saints vs Wigan game a few weeks back. He played a massive part in how that game flowed and his communication was brilliant. You know they’re fighting a losing battle when I read people criticising him after that game for talking to the players too much, saying he was ‘coaching them’. That is a joke comment IMO. We all want to see the games flow, hardly any breaks in them and he was giving the players every opportunity to make that happen.

Kendall is pretty good but I do find his set restarts a bit random, but hes learning on that score as everyone is.

Moore has been brilliant for me

Either would do for the final but I think Moore is a Wiganer isn’t he? I never think that’s a good idea as it just leave him open to criticism. The paranoia of the Saints fans already seems to be through the roof.

Glad you are happy with them , Moore will become a decent ref in time but he is miles away at the moment as for Kendall

Generally I can't stand people moaning about the refs.

Reasonable criticism is fine but I really think that's the minority.

Far more often IMO the fans have no clue what they're talking about. Look at the reaction to the Griffin head pat, 'When has that ever been a penalty! A penalty for THAT in a playoff game!, Wigan can do it but you can't do it to them!' all things I've seen when in reality Wigan were penalized for it, last year, in a playoff game.

People often complain about forward passes in tries and of course you'd like the refs to get them all right. But it's another case where so often people don't understand the rules and physics of running with a ball.

Another element of that is for example the pass to Sneyd where he nearly scores travels about 5m forward, it might have been backwards out of the hands but it doesn't look good. The point is though that no one remembers it because Wigan defended it anyway.

Saints fans last year made out like they had no chance to win once the Knowles try had been disallowed. It was one try in the first 5 minutes, if you can't overcome that you don't deserve it anyway. And then it's not like they played the perfect game but the ref just robbed them of that try, Saints made about 20 errors in that game.

I'm not even going to get into the conspiracy stuff you see about certain teams receiving beneficial treatment.

I wonder if people in their own lives hold themselves to the standards they expect of referees, or would welcome the scrutiny and treatment they call for.

I try to bear in mind there is no game without them and almost always the teams have enough say to have won with or without the mistakes of referees. Where there are Ganson Magic levels of mistakes criticism is warranted but i really think it's generally way over the top. Was there some golden age of referees where they were all great and no one complained about them? Are they that much worse in rugby league than other sports? Im not convinced.

Yeah I agree (and yes he is)
They hate Kendall
The hate Hicks

Botbsure who's left?
Saddened???

Reaon I like Moore is I dont think he over complicates things, let's game flow as much as most, and don't find myself shaking my head at times in disbelief. Strange thing to say but I think he makes less decisions/penalties than most.

I'm not a referee bagger 99/100 times. Usually on review you find they're right more often than you think.

End

Bang on mate. I'm having a similar conversation on the VT.

The truth is refs make mistakes. Sure, we'll bag them for the obvious ones but some of the stuff I've seen recently is just plain ludicrous.

My favourite at the moment is "Wigan's line speed is because the ref lets them move before the ball is played or stand yards offside whereas Saints' linespeed is because they're apparently all amazing athletes" or variations on that theme.

Comments on the Mcllorum one are valid. It was, or should have been, obvious to all. But can anyone honestly say they "saw" the Tomkins one? I don't mean after the sky pundits pointed it out or after Myler complained, but actually as it happened in real time? I'm guessing no one. Yet, despite asking Myler did he want to complain to which he replied "no", he's being castigated for it.

Refs aren't perfect and I'll give it plenty during a match just like everyone else. Let's keep the written criticisms to the bad ones though. Like you say, we have no game without them.

The Leeds fan are still trying to blame their defeat on a finger up the bum hole, so you’ll never win.

I know mate. We can but try...

Never mind the refs - its the touch judges that need sacking off. Ive lost count of the number of times a video ref has had to adjudicate on a foot in touch question yet the replay shows the linesman literally 3 yards behind the player looking down the line.

They literally serve no purpose if they cant spot a foot on a line from 9 feet away.

I’d go along with most responses on this thread.

Refs will make errors, they will make calls that partisan fans or those with agendas will disagree with but overall they don’t do a bad job.

I was going to say every decision is scrutinised but that’s not true. All the decisions that sky (who seem to have their own agenda) decide to focus on are scrutinised. For example the elbow in Isa’s face, if that had been done by one of sky’s pantomime villains such as Micky Mac or Partington we’d have seen about 20 replays.

I blame sky for much of the pressure refs are under, they have a massive influence on the opinion of the fans. I just wish they would start to focus on the positive aspects of the game rather than creating controversy at every opportunity.

Surely anyone with basic knowledge of the game can tell they're told to send them to the video ref when they're close try decisions regardless of whether they are fairly confident of what the decision should be. Why do you think that over 90% of the time they send it up as the correct decision for touch decisions, and nearly always get touch decisions right in general play as well?

Either they give the decisions in real time and you occasionally get the odd vital error like the 2019 CC Final, or we send the close ones up to the video ref and you moan that the on field officials can't/won't make a decision. Can't win whatever they do.

FWIW I think the video ref makes tries anti-climactic, as you can't properly celebrate a try until you have seen a load of replays and it's finally given. As such, I'd prefer to go to a system similar to the NFL. The on field guys make their decision, it's awarded (or not) then the video ref gets a couple of looks to tell the ref whether he wants to trigger a review (in which case hold the game up briefly whilst he does). I'd limit this to touch, dead ball line, offside grounding decisions as those are where the bigger errors generally come from IMO. I can live with the on field guys dealing with knock ons, obstruction etc.

I was awaiting your reply
Correct