Oh I know I have.

Depends what we are classing as being protected i guess. Them being "out in the cold" i.e dropped isn't protection imo, it's a necessity if they do a bad job. That happens in all walks of life.

When I talk about protection, then I mean the public backing they get from the RFL - when was the last time they ever came out and admitted a ref had a stinker? I'm not looking for him to be hung out to dry btw. Players get it all the time from coaches, especially honest ones like Wane. How many times have you heard Wane say something like "he knows what he's done wrong & what we expect, but he'll learn from it" etc? Why do the mistakes the refs make, get brushed under the carpet almost?

I look back to the 19 CC final and the disgraceful performance of the ref that day. McManus was bang on in his assessment a week later, but rather than acknowledge he had a legitimate point he was attacked for telling the truth.

Excuses in extra early I guess but realistically they’ll be favourites next week and those same people will wet themselves if they win. I’m sure should they will they’ll be gracious in victory though

Then that ref, who the RFL have bagged, has to take charge of 34 players, who have just read that even his own employer think he's bad. How would that go for him? I don't recall a disgraceful performance in the 19 CC Final. I recall one bad costly decision not to send a decision to the video ref.

That was for in case they lost. Angry Dave was the most vocal on that. Watch their attitude change now they're in the final and then again depending on whether they win or lose. Totally pathetic bunch of basket cases.

On the "all ref's referee Wigan differently" theme that they like to peddle, tonight alone they got Maloney sinbinned for a high tackle that wasn't dissimilar to the Walmsley one that happened literally minutes before, a try from a forward pass (Makinson), a second from another forward pass (Lomax), one from the most blatant shepard you'll ever see (unless the ball was landing on the corner flag!), a second pitifully soft sinbin leaving Catalan down to 12 men twice in a semi final and numerous offsides (if you believe Wigan's line speed is due to offsides as they apparently do).

I'm not complaining about any of that you understand. Saints were worthy winners. It'll just be interesting to see if they register how they're "reffed differently" too. Somehow I doubt it.

So they should lie and protect him instead? Imagine if you used that principle for anyone in power. A judge gets a case wrong and it's reversed by a higher court - that first judge (if he doesn't lose his job) still has to work on further trials.

It's the very definition of a whitewash isn't it?

They deal with it in-house and select based on performance. It's pretty much the same as clubs do. Coaches generally don't single out players to the media but obviously they will deal with poor performance in-house and drop them as necessary. The referee already has a big target on his back without getting shots fired from his own bosses.

Given that LMS cognitive baseline is lower than a goldfish the bar for his test will be set low to zero

we must have different rules to the NRL, LMS was knocked out, if it is this back no matter what the HIA says you must stay off or something like that. I think it was pretty reckless from saints

Possibly different rules. Not sure whether he was knocked out to be honest though clearly very unsteady afterwards. Yeah as a non-expert I didn't think he should have been allowed to return after that.

the way he went down I think he was knocked out briefly as he tensed up and didnt move from that motion for a second

Seeing as the club twitter announced he had failed an HIA and wouldn't be back, it would be interesting to see a report of what happened

If they have put him back on with any issues then they need to be made an example of by the RFL/SL.

I worry about the clubs in general with incidents like this when it comes to 30/40 years down the track and players are suffering the after effects of incidents like that last night. I thought the game had really cleaned up it’s act regarding head injuries but then you see that and it’s a dreadful look.

Failed head tests, passed head tests, whatever his result may have been, I have not seen a player in that bad a shape being allowed back on the field of play in a few years now. It felt like a throwback to something Michael Maguire would’ve done, telling players to get back out there at almost any costs.

Their reply to him coming back on was "LMS is a superhero"

No explanation that he had actually passed and they got it wrong, they just made a joke about it.

I'm not sure he is that influential of a player that it had any say in the matter on the field, but it took away the threat of saints having 1 sub left