To be fair, michaels try came from a forward pass

I hope Bentham get the final .

Give it to one of the new lads they seem a lot better than the usual lot. Don't mind that, Joe Cobb?

Also doesn't anyone know what the penalty count was for our game? Wouldn't be surprised if it was 18-4 in Wigans favour.

As a neutral who will be going to Wembley, I'm glad you lot won on Friday. Wigan are a hard team to watch. For me, they push the rules to the limits and seem to influence refs more than any other team.

On the down side, Tomkins will now be free to officially ref the final. He's been getting plenty of practice over the last few weeks!

I was fuming about the ref during and immediately after the game. After a bit of reflection and watching a replay then Hull did get the rough end of any marginal decisions and the handling of the PTB was terrible. Although I don't like Thaler as a referee the real problem is Wigan and their absolute commitment to cheating on just about every play. It puts the referee under enormous pressure when combined with the constant verbals the likes of Tomkins and the head hunter give out. I am sure that Thaler isn't biased but also that the pressure he's under makes himself want to appear fair and not give a hugely lopsided penalty count which is what Wigan deserve in most games they play. Couple that with the frustration of their opponents when they see what is not getting penalised and they get dragged into the gutter Wigan occupy if they aren't careful and being less skilled at cheating end up being penalised.

Still the good guys won in the end. Hopefully Wigan will come up empty again this season and their only footnote in history will be as cheats that didn't prosper.

No it didn't.

no it never

watch it again



and again, and again

It did indeed . You want to hope for Thaler as ref at Wembley , he kept you in the game at the semi , with some strange calls .

Has he got family in Swanland ? . Someone told me he had and his uncle is a Hull fan .

Watched it back again today and I wasn't as angry with the refereeing as I was immediately after Friday on the train home. As said, couple of Wigan knock ons that apparently went backwards and a couple of identical ones from us that were penalised seemed unfair but anyway...

What I would say though is Friday's game, between the same two teams with the same referee, was officiated entirely differently to the one at their place in the league. We all know what Donkey Kong actually means when he's twittering on about being a "details team" and "getting our details right in the ruck". He means they're going to put three men in and try every trick in the book to slow it down and stop a team getting a roll on. At Wigan in the league Thaler wouldn't have any of that, absolutely caned them early in the game, part of the reason we got into such a strong position to start with. Then on Friday - exact opposite, they could do pretty much whatever they liked, including moving sideways and miles off the mark at their own PTB.

I happen to think the refereeing is a lot better this season (though not the video refereeing) and has been benefited by an influx of new officials as opposed to the same six blokes getting games every week regardless of their form and fitness and us having to suffer Richard Silverwood all the time. I also quite like Thaler, contrary to most people's opinion. And I'm also avoiding a debate about whether Wigan's "details" should be penalised or rewarded as intelligent defence.

But what cannot be right is two teams play each other in May to one interpretation of the rules, and then they play each other again in July and the same referee applies the rules entirely differently. It' bad enough the lack of consistency from official to official, but to have the same bloke applying the same rules completely differently two months apart is a bit of a farce.

kirkella I think and his whole family hate rovers with a passion. Says if he gets the wembley gig that rovers fans will be looking for a new song although he's take the million pound game given the choice

yes it did

Oh No it didn't




He's behind You !!!!

Bit of a pantomime, this thread, lock it

No it did not, you sorry excuse for a troll.