I thought thaler had a decent game overall and let the game flow. houghton was unlucky as his tackle was OK but connor coming in put the pressure on. The other 2 were just stupid, especially washbrook's who would have known better especially when we were already a man down and probably cost us the game ultimately.

All 3 were justifiably yellow cards

On the subject of referees I have a question. The Shaul tackle at Featherstone was classed as a miss timed tackle after several viewings by the video referee (Ben Thaler if I am correct) and warranted no action on the field. The Matongo tackle was classed as a late tackle (dubious call, my opinion only) yet receives an instant yellow from Ben Thaler. Am I missing something?

No, you've highlighted how inconsistent the officials are, they are the same for every team.

The difference between the 2 tackles (and this is massively open to interpretation and debate) is that Taulapapa (sp?) was a mistimed tackle, whereas Matongo was an off the ball hit. What I mean by that was that the first one was a committed tackle where he just got his timing wrong. Whereas Masi did have time to pull out and just decided to hit the man without he ball anyway. Neither were really worthy of a yellow card imo. They weren't high and they weren't shoulder charges.

No what it means is the VR system is now being used above and beyond its original use at a detriment to the game as referee's now are ducking the responsibility. The Shaul one Micky Mouse handed it over to the VR and made a total cock up of a decision. what it actually means is you can clean anybody out on the field off the ball as long as you're early but if you're a split second late its not classed as mistimed but late unless you are LMS.

On the cards yesterday I thought Houghtons was harsh but inevitable after Richardson played on it to get it reviewed, Washy was stupid and deserved it though it was a tap rather than anything so a stern word would have sufficed and Masi's card again I thought was harsh. Why did Makinson not get pulled up for a applying pressure on the neck of Carlos? Why did LMS not get at least a yellow for repeated rabbit punches to the head of Fash? Fash was penalised for his head in the tackle but you see that happen in just about every set in the game.

The game with the current state the officiating is in under Ganson will only deteriorate into a sport not worth watching die to the constant inconsistency and over use of the VR. As I have still yet to understand the logic that you can't use the video to rule out at try for a forward pass (due to the angles) but yet you can use it to see on/offside which has the same difficulty in a large proportion of reviews??

The only thing the officials are consistent with is the inconsistency not just game by game but half by half.

Mistimed??? That's the whole point Taulapapas was far far worse as he was intent on taking out Shaul ball or otherwise, and he wasnt just a little bit early was he? So by the logic the officials work to then taking a player out off the ball is ok as long you're early.

The RFL need to make a clear and unambiguous statement on just what the VR is there for.
Ganson is, through his actions, rapidly turning the game into a lottery
[iindeed, the only consistency, is inconsistency[/i

There is a simple answer, scrap the VR.

As long as you're committed. His tackle wasn't dirty as such, he was trying to hit Shaul as soon as he got the ball and got it wrong. Masi's I don't think warranted a yellow but it was needless and a bit of a cheap shot. A lot of refs would have sin binned the Shaul tackle and maybe not sin binned Masi. It's open to interpretation. You can complain about lack of consistency all you like, but it's very hard to get right, no two tackles are ever quite the same.

I get what you're saying but there is mistimed and there is mistimed, Taulapapas wasnt just slightly mistimed he was intent a cleaning Shaul out ball or not, if there is a duty of care and responsilbility by the players making a tackle then whether its early or late should make no difference. Taulapapa was careless and reckless and was a damnsight worse than Masi of which you see a dozen or so times. The game is just a bloody mess thats to the total inconsistency and poor standards of officiating and hardly any accountability for the performances, its not like they are professional officials is it.........................oh hang on a minute they are and have been for long enough to be a damn sight better. The VR for me if it canm't be used at all games should be scrapped as it is now causing too much controversy as it been used for way more than it was brought in for and certain players are now using it to gain an advantage.

I am often angry about the ref at the end of a game but after calming down and maybe seeing some replays conclude that decisions all even out in the end. After yesterday’s game I’m more and more annoyed. Washbrook deserved to be sin binned but McCarthy Scarsbrook consistently lashes out at tacklers without punishment. Houghton was unlucky; the finest scientific brains around could not predict where the ball handler will end up when two human bodies collide at speed and are then joined by two others. Matongo was treated harshly compared with the Saints player who took out Miloudi off the ball early in the game. On two occasions late in the game Saints players failed to roll away from the tackle and interfered with the play the ball but were not penalised. Smacks to me of an agenda by Thaler.

I have no issues with the three sin-bins. Masi & Washy were daft, Houghton unfortunate. There are always going to be mistakes made by refs in real time, it's a thankless job.

The real issue I think it having the big screens at games with Sky/BBC scrutinising each decision. As fans sat there, we get to see each contentious moment replayed a number of times in glorious slow motion live in the stadium. Every mistake by the ref is highlighted. I think it's now ingrained into RL culture to pick apart every try.

We also see the issue with players play-acting and staying down. They know if they do so that Sky/BBC will fill in the time by showing the replay over and over again, and like with Masi & Houghton in front of a home ground wanting blood, the referee has to act. That means the producers at Sky/BBC can directly influence a game based on the replays they decide to show live at the stadium.

I'd like to keep the big screen at games, but only to re-run tries and great bits of play in real time - there's no need for us all to watch the video ref make his decision (they can communicate directly with the Ref) or replay contentious issues over and over.

I think that LMS has cottoned on to the fact he can get away with sly digs in the tackle,and the officials will ignore it.

I haven't seen the replay yet but my impression was that the Houghton card was unfortunate as he got hit by Connor himself and had nowhere to go. Washy was stupid, but LMS swinging and missing should have been carded too. Masi was late but so was LMS on Kelly. The inconsistency is my main gripe across the board because other than that I thought Thaler did OK, with the other three refs across the weekend being better.

I think DGM has hit the nail on the head there.

Video Ref's are a useful addition to the game and if used correctly should only bring value to the game. Where we are getting it wrong at the moment is that htye are creating mayhem and are been over used or used for the wrong reasons. My 5 point plan to clear this up would be.

1) VR at every game, or none at all. Games have an advantage if they are on TV ( or a disadvantage dependant on viewpoint) but regardless the status quo of all games isn't the same.

2) If kept, the VR should only be allowed to be questioned on the black and white stuff ( no grey areas, not your team!)
- Grounding
- Offside
- In touch or not ( including kick off bounces etc)

3) Discretionary looks at incidents in games such as head highs/fights to be called by the ref only - and not be shown on replays on the big screen for fans/players to kick off. There needs to be an education piece for referee's for players feigning injury as well to not get conned.

4) Anybody who suffers a head knock because of bad tackles should have to do a compulsory 15 minute head test - that would stop the play acting immediately.

5) Invite former/retiring players into the VR decision making process to start a pathway into refereeing and also see from a players perspective.

Still kinks to iron out, but this would at least give us a strategy moving forward.

FWIW - We can't expect ref's to not make mistakes, simply won't happen. Players continually make mistakes, we don't expect them to be perfect every game so to expect 1 man to control 26 players perfectly every game is la la land. Thaler is one of the better ref's and I thought he let the game flow pretty well yesterday and that breakneck pace added to the game