Punches aren't automatic reds. It's a bin for me. Foot in touch - not a situation where the ref or video ref can step in. It's all on the TJ.

I don't think many people know that. I certainly didn't until an incident at Cas when a TJ claimed a ball had bounced in-play and gave a 40/20 when it was out on the full by miles. I think they scored off it too IIRC.

Hardly surprising that there was a poor crowd when one of the finalists was from the South of France and only had a support of around 1,500 willing to travel to Manchester.

If Wigan or some of the other better supported Super League clubs had been in the final, the attendance would have been more like 60,000 or even more!

No issue with the attendance. I was there and was surprised how good it felt tbh. Walking down to the ground was busy and as I was in the bottom tier at the Catalans end, it didn’t feel too bad at all, as I couldn’t see the upper tier at that end.

Ultimately put a Leeds, Wigan, Wire or pretty much any other English club in and you can tag 15-20,000+ fans on and it’s much of a muchness with other years.

Yeah even if the ref sees that the TJ is clearly wrong on a touch decision, he can't do anything unless it's a try decision when he can send it to the VR if they have one.

Answered the age old question of "why is he going to the screen, the TJ is right there"

We went into Manchester then to Salford Quays and I was pleasantly surprised at the number of fans in both areas. Obviously not as many as previous finals but still a fair turnout.
Atmosphere on the ground was pretty decent too

Well yeah there is that, more commonly the TJ will play it safe and say "I've got a try but check touch and grounding." the ref knows he can't give touch himself so won't even be focusing on it.

Is there a point you're trying to prove highlighting this?

He's been on this forum for 15 years and I don't think ever made a point.