Watching it at the game I thought we had all turned up to listen to Mr Child's Whistle concerto. After watching the game on the telly I still think he didn't let the game flow.

The penalty against Fifita was shocking.

Totally agree

For me it's pretty obvious he gets up as quick as can and plays the ball as quick too, to get us momentum from the 3 defenders that are usually in the tackle and if they try to hold him down he's quite good at getting the penalty. I'm sure like other players in SL, it's a habit how quick they try to PTB, obviously, it can backfire but rarely does.
I've said before I'd rather him play that way than a slow get up and PTB like some Props do.
As for not playing the ball correctly, how many players in a match actually do it to the letter of the law nowadays, just about everyone seems to just roll it between the legs. You see some get away with playing the ball while still on one knee quite regularly.
As has been mentioned though this last game, he shouldn't have got penalised with Salford players literally all over him pulling on his shirt, Trinity should have been awarded a penalty.

fifth is marked now as a player who does not play the ball correctly- he is also marked as a player that tries to get a pen every time he gets tackled.

so have some game smarts and understand you are 6 in front with 1 min to go and just get up and play the ball slowly to take it out of the refs hands!!!

So you're saying it shouldn't have been a penalty the other way round when the Salford player had hold of his shirt, he should have milked the penalty and fallen forward, plus he played the ball like that all game? Like I said before if he's marked for not playing the ball correctly about 60% or more of other SL players should be, same with getting up to play quickly, it's the name of the game.

Sorry but that's rubbish. His play the ball is about average but hey let's focus on one incident from a year ago, bizarre.

I don't know why Child has a gripe against us but he pings us for stuff he doesn't ping other teams for. I watched the Saints away game from last season recently and he was on Fifita's case in that game too. He's like a hawk for any slight discretion in our play around the ruck but lets other teams get away with all sorts. I dread it when I see he's the ref and I'd say he's one of the worst, can't stand the bloke.

Ask Richard Agar about that.

Thaler and bentham are by far the best referees.

Hicks isnt very good, but he is consistently not very good to both sides. I guess that's a silver lining to a very dark cloud.

Child is poor, Kendall is atrocious. hewer is dreadful, the list goes on.

I actually think he's improved massively over the years - but he is a pedant, and teams must be aware of that; he does far less of the coaching/persuading of players that Thaler will for example, but I'm not necessarily against that - the issue is with consistency.

I do believe however that he is very harsh when he referees WT, and always has been.

You're a big advocate of Trinity TV. Watch the games back and then tell me what his play the balls are like. I like Fifita, but I've been saying for 12 months that this is a problem area for him.

I've just told you what I think why do I need to look again just to make you feel better?

His PTB is on the edge, so what. The one he was penalised for on Friday was the same as almost ever PTB that night from every player on the pitch - so you tell me why pick on him. There are far worse out there but that downs'y suit your argument I suspect.

So a word of advice, you watch most other SL props on SKY see what you think.

All I’m saying is that if you watch them back and keep an eye on his play the ball you’ll see what I mean. Very rarely does he play it with his foot. And I don’t care what other props do, I’m a Wakefield fan, they can do as they please.

I don’t expect you to come back and admit you were wrong, I know that won’t happen, but watch him closely and you’ll see.

I've watched just about every game this season, our own and those on SKY and a ton last season and it seems that in our game that the majority of players don't play the ball correctly (i'd say something like 8 out of every 10 as a guesstimate), as in they place the ball on the floor and use their foot to roll it back.

It seems to me there are 2 ways that most players use nowadays and that's the roll it between their legs technique, or lift their leg up and roll it underneath it without the ball touching the foot.

I'd have thought if the refs really thought it was a real problem, they'd have spoken to the teams at the start of the year and then punish every player who doesn't do it the proper way but I suppose they'd be about 50 penalties a match for quite a while. it's something that's gradually crept more and more into the game the past decade or so.

Personally though, I don't have much of a problem with it, as long as the player has gained his feet and plays it post to post.

The one thing that does get on my nerves, that players have taken advantage of because refs have not been punishing it as much as they did say 5 seasons ago, is the second markers at the PTB not standing square. Second markers seem to think as long as they have hold of the shirt of the marker they can stand where they want, which is an obvious penalty but refs just hardly penalise it, just one or two if your lucky/unlucky a match. Compared to the PTB issue, imo the second marker not standing in line is far more benefitial for the defendig side.

I thought Child had decent game until that 78th minute decision, although he did miss 2 terrible high shots 1 on Huby and 1 on Pauli.

Watching the replay there is a very slight delay in awarding the Fifita penalty, maybe a call from the linesman, none the less it was still a very harsh one and potentially game changing.

If not for that 78th min decision possibly for the first time I can remember we would not have been talking about him when reffing us.

Shame really