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

It looks confident and decisive making the decision in real time but it's a numbers game. Eventually they get burned, it gets replayed over and over and everyone questions why they didn't use the technology available.

You must see things i do not as every Leeds fan i know accepts we were 2nd best on the night , but if that does not fit your agenda then fair enough

The touch Judges donanlotnof unnoticed work, because its notnlikenthe opdndays were a balding bloke comes running on waving a flag people think they arent contributing

Well yeah exactly, the comms kits are there for a reason. My favourite one heard at amateur grounds regularly is "He's offside touch judge! Get on with your flag!" as though anyone in the history of rugby league has seen a touch judge run on and stop the game for an offside. Extra points if the player is half a metre offside and nowhere near the ball.

I'd love the RFL to do a "mic'd up" of a touch judge to show fans the input they have one day. It's all recorded already so wouldn't cost anything extra. I think they tend to be too busy firefighting so don't really do positive things like that. Maybe some 5 minute videos diving into specific rules that people tend not to understand properly (I'm thinking obstruction, momentum on a forward pass, what constitutes a shoulder charge).

I’ve read plenty of comments (most on other platforms) saying had the two incidents been adjudged differently you’d have gone on to win the game.

No agenda, just black and white facts. The Leeds fans that say you were second best on the night and credit Catalans with a deserved victory are correct.

Well if they're down to 11 men there's a bloody good chance they would to be fair

That’s a fair point

I’m more getting at the point that I’ve seen Leeds fans laying blame squarely at the refs door when they had been comprehensively outplayed. No ref/video ref would be brave enough to send Joel Tomkins off as well for that incident. They would always be put on report to be investigated by the disciplinary. I shudder to think how the ref could get enough evidence on the field to send him off

It would make The Bunker a very interesting listen

Match officials will always be an easy target for fans and coaches alike. Easy to criticise them rather than look at the shortcomings of your own side.

I still maintain that refs make less mistakes than players. Things would improve a lot of the sky commentators actually had an idea and understanding of the laws the game. They feed the bile and the anger, as well as a dribble of misinformation that the Trump administration would be embarrassed by. If I'd have had a pound for each time I'd had a player say to me "sky said" I'd have been able to fund Toronto for the next 10 years.

Absolutely spot on. It gets boring listening to them witter on about decisions when half the time they think the ref has given a penalty for something totally different. They spent 30 seconds debating a ball steal on Bibby on Thursday when the ref had blown up for offside. Their constant cry’s of “forward pass” are embarrassing as well. Just concentrate on calling the play and let the ref take care of the decisions. They focus on the negatives constantly. Compare that to Union who’s commentators refuse to call out a forward pass or knock on and just say everything is amazing.