Ben Thaler of Wakefield is your ref on Friday.

Stitch up.

Not that I think it will make a difference but it does annoy me that since the RFL changed the rule allowing ref's to officiate their 'own / local team' they seem to give them most games which is bizzare! Especially Silverwood at Leeds etc. Any mistake get's treated as contentious, so why bother?

In reality it was only brought in as Ganson was top Ref and never getting final's due to Saints being there yet they seem to have gone from on extreme to another.

Wonder how I would get on if I had to ref Fax v Widnes?

as I've already said HE TOLD ME HIMSELF he will be out for around 4 weeks.

I hope not

Widnes Vikings 24 v 29 Wakefield Trinity
MoM: Paul Aiton
Att: 7911
Wind: Prevailing SW
Temp: -5.5
Humidity: 1%
Anyone need the lottery numbers?

Likely Wakefield starting line up
Mathers
Fox
Collis
Mellars
Cockayne
John
Smith
Wilkes
Aiton
Amor
Lauitiiti
Southern
Washbrook

Ellis
Raleigh
Kirmond
Johnson

I may be wrong but AFAIK he's a Cas fan so yes it is a stitch up.

All the times we have had thaler there has been no favouritism shown to wakey that's for sure.

The referee won't be a factor in any team taking the points and shouldn't be. Looking forward to the game.

That was a fine display by Wakefield, the coped with the pitch, some dubious refereeing, some dubious tactics and a big widnes pack.
Thankfully all the pre match omens, came to nothing, and Widnes will have to look elsewhere for their first points.
For Wakefield all our key players showed up very well, and they also roughed it out as a team when they had to, a real team performance!!
Widnes tried to and were allowed to rough it up far too much throughout and benefited from some terrible refereeing in the first half in particular. They looked shot in the second half, but that will improve as the season progresses I'm sure.
The dream has ended and now it's the reality check of life in the fast lane, and I wish you all well.

What a wonderfully typical one sided view of the game.
I think if Widnes had shared the same luxury as Wakefield in having both of our first choice halves in the game then the scoreline could have been strongly in our favour by HT. From what's been seen of Watts he adds a bit of guile into the attacking line and I think we would have converted a bit more of the pressure.

I also think one of the refereeing decisions went your way when it so easily could have come down in our favour and there were two clear opportunities for us to score were we simply over-ran the ball. Whilst the scoreline looks impressive in the end, lets remember that at least two scores came whilst we were down to 12 men also.
So as for wishing us well. I will do the same to you. You may well need it yet.


It was a bit of a make-do side really with Clarke coming in at SH and then White moving to this position removing our ability to interchange the hooker.

As for the ref... if your side keep up the gesturing to try and get opposition players sent off you may well become one of the least liked sides in the league.

What I will add is this... at times some of the rugby that Wakefield played was very good to watch indeed. The fans turned up in fantastic numbers all things being considered. We were at the western end of the North Stand so couldn't really hear them but undoubtedly they were making a lot of noise and supported their team fantastically well.

Considering how many newcomers you have in the squad, the team looked well blended together already and the players have a good understanding which will improve yet again as the season progresses. No small amount of praise should be given to Agar for doing this already.

I'm genuinely looking forward to the return match at Belle Vue.