This is one of my pet hates at the moment. Players are regularly stepping one or two paces forward off the mark to play the ball which often results in an unfair penalty for "interference" or at the very least it has obstructed the first marker and put the attacking side over the gain line and at speed.

It happened a lot last night and also on the Sky match of Friday. Certain sides seem to be coached to do it with the worst offenders being St Helens, Warrington and Wigan.

The same three sides also have players that having made a tackle and well after the "release" insist on giving a final little push on the attacker as he goes onto one foot to play the ball. (Fielden made an artform of it) This sometimes leads to a fumble and loss of possession unfairly which the refs don't pick up on.

The lower standard of officials is certainly effecting results as momentum (or lack of) in SL is so important.

In the early days of SL, Sky used to have a camera high up on a crane which gave a much clearer view of forward passes. On a recent Cup game the BBC still had the crane camera which gave definitive views on forward passes and reminded me of what we now are missing on Sky

No I'm TOO comatose ( at least on a weekend )

Mr Child has been consistently bad at all the Catalan games i've witnessed at Perpignan - he's not been biased,just rubbish for whichever team has been playing.He is a poor ref but no other ref would have made any difference to the outcome - you lot were outplayed by a better drilled/coached outfit on the day.Well played Catalans,what a difference a coach makes........

I've got to agree. I think Childs is appalling, but he didn't make Leeds lose. We are shocking in defence this year, and dis-jointed in attack. Childs should still be questioned by his superiors though.
I know I may be out on a limb, but I reckon Ben Thaler is one of the best refs around. I know he makes the odd mistake, but they all do. He is at least consistent.

can't imagine how Mr Childs has kept his post TBH ! he's consistently bad IMO...

they all will always mak mistakes and about with Mr Thaler though for me Mr.Alibert has been the most consistent so far this season

what's worrying me this season is the lack of support and inability of the TDs to make the correct decisions when some decisions are so bl*****g obvious from the stands...

How polite are the French, to self-edit bleeding.

I tried to argue this case yesterday with my brother but he was right when he said you have to earn penalties. When your markers are all over the place like ours were all the time you are going to get penalities against you. We couldnt get any quick plays, so unless Catalans are careless you aint getting many marker or offside penalties.

Highlighted the penalty count stat because i dont think an 12-11 penalty count in your favour wins you game or a 6-9 penalty count means you lose by 36. The 'coincidence' is wakefield and crusaders are 2 of the 3 worst teams in the league and warrington and catalans are 2 of the best, hence the final score.

bloody right mate !

thought it was clever play by Hendo,he spotted the bad organisation in the Leeds side and played it to his teams' advantage - he's been playing really well in the past couple of months and doesn't get the praise he deserves IMO.
Disappointed with the Rhinos performance - the body language doesn't look right.I saw them arrive at the ground and all the players and staff looked terrified as though the pressure was really on them to get the points.Very reminiscent of the Catalans last season with Mr Walters in charge......

The Webmaster is spot on..............Even in the games where Child officiated when we won he was shocking, had it not been for the poor opposition the result may have been different. We're all waiting for Mr Cummins statement on the Blanche try and how he got it wrong....it was definitely a game breaker, that said we were poor.

Incidentally.............

Hicks...........................played 2 Won 2
Silverwood....................played 4 Won 3 Drawn 1
Alibert..........................played 4 Won 2 Lost 2
Child............................played 4 Won 2 Lost 2
Thaler..........................played 3 Won 1 Lost 2
Ganson.........................played 3 Won 1 Lost 2
Bentham.......................played 1 Lost 1

Lets hope its Hicks of Friday

I am in no way blaming the ref for the poor performance and defeat but a few things baffled me......

* being sat behind the posts i could see this better than i normally do at headingley......I dont think the Dragons players were stood square at the PTB for the entire 2nd half
* WHY??? after all 3 officials allowed play to go on did they decide to go back to the half way to sin bin Delaney for the late challenge just because a Dragons player kicked off starting a 24 man 'brawl'? i didnt think the man in the stand was allowed to be in full contact with the ref...
* Menzies 'spilt ball onto his head' is given as a knock on in every game ive seen it happen in in years.....Childs signalled nothing!!! not play on, not went backwards....NOTHING!


And that new stand is a death trap!!!!

what a whinger ! you lot were beaten fair & square end of.

Leeds were rubbish,badly coached off field and badly disciplined on it.Hendo gave you the run around and as for the so called defence allowing the OAP to run in a try was pathetic !

the brawl was spotted by the lino on the Guasch Tribune side who told Mr Child hence the correct decision for a ten minute sin-bin - nothing to do with a 'man in the crowd',grow up FFS !

the new stand is brilliant with some great views (not so good behind the floodlight pylon in the corner though).If you don't like heights then sit elsewhere.....

Was that in your best French accent Peter??

I cant remember reading any comment anywhere near the notion that we lost the game due to the ref

If the best 4 refs in the NRL had reffed that game we would still have got walloped, maybe by more points

But that doesn't change the fact that the ref was sheiiiite

Agreed, we would have lost whoever ref the game but child is very poor and had a poor game

Royston Vasey opens his mesage with "I am in no way blaming the ref..." so then he goes on to point out several points which should have been spotted by the ref thus contradicting himself big-time !
The ref was rubbish but rubbish for both teams ! he's been awful at all the home Catalan games i've seen so how is he allowed to continue at this level ?
He had no help from the TJs and the BJB step on the whitewash leading up to the Leeds try was scandalous !
I was seated directly behind the incident about thirty yards up and saw his foot clearly touch the whitewash,along wth a couple of thousand other speccies so how the f*** can a lino just one yard away NOT see it ? it was an absolute joke.

no mate,best Norfolk/Froggie speak !!!



how was Manila BTW ?

when are you down here again mate ?

I appreciate that point entirely. I was specific in highlighting the markers not square penalty though as it's fairly obvious when you see it that the attacker is 'playing' for it. He doesn't have to run there but often does so to draw the penalty. Fair enough. I just don't understand what Buderus did wrong to get waved away in the example I gave.



I wasn't being entirely serious on that point (although it was a four ball Child accumulater) just frustrated by Leeds' total lack of discipline at times and the coach's apparent inability to instil some of it in to his charges. That said any team is gonna struggle at this level with a 12 - 4 against.

Indeed at the start of the season I pointed out that in the opening seven Leeds fixtures the team losing the penalty count went on to win those games so perhaps the stat wasn't so critical afterall.


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How do you know the touch judge didn't see his foot touching the sideline just the same as you and two thousand fellow fanatics did?

His foot touching the sideline wasn't a problem in itself as he was in the process of passing the ball. Yes ultimately on this occasion the touch judge made the wrong call but he was hampered by not sharing your apparent ability to freeze time.

You guessed and got it right, well done.

it wasn't a guess,it was basic officiating,as blatant as say,the Hardaker pass against Saints or other ridiculously obvious things that the linos have missed this season.Oddly enough it led to one of the best bits of the game for Leeds with the JJB try followed by the Buderus effort which tore the Catalans defence apart....

bloke was sin binned for late hit on the kicker! The fact he went in with his shoulder and did not look like he was actually trying to effect a correct tackle made it obvious!
had he been attempting to make a proper tackle and not just hit with the shoulder he might have got away with it
Its in the rules of the game!!! Hit the kicker late then it has to be a yellow card, the TJ is watching for the late hit and in the case in was correct and desreved to be sin binned
as for the foot on the line
if yopu look where the TJ was stood it looked like his view was blocked by the player trying to tackle him, not an excuse but hey
But FWIW it did not seem the best game for mr Childs,

As for the messing around at the play the ball and the pushing and shoving!!! does get silly but peacock is expert at it
Not standing square, well you can stand where the bloody hell you want as long as you dont get involved in the play or!!! directly effect the direction of play

thing thats really annoying me these days and its gettign worse and was pretty bad in this game is the scrum!!! second row not even bothering packign in anymore now never mind the loose fwd

The only games I can honestly say where the ref did not make major mistakes, were the two losses for us reffed by Thaler.

Therefore I would always hope for Thaler personally. I think this year he has been miles ahead of the others.

LOL I was hoping to get down there end of July but might struggle now.
BTW no news for you on the search for the missing tribe!!!
I will PM you later mate.

Hardaker's pass or Watkins flick-pass to Hardaker?

The Jones-Bishop incident was still a guess (however educated) on your part from where you were sat in the stand. It wasn't as clear-cut as you claim in real time and it only became truely evident that a mistake had been made with the use of freeze frame after the event. Jones-Bishop's boot hit the line a split-second before he released the ball, making the touch judge's play-on decision a poor but understandable mistake.

As I said though, well done for guessing right on this occasion.



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In the Round 10 fixture V Huddersfield, Thaler's poor positioning managed to block Leuluai's attempted tackle on Robinson. Only made worse when Thaler apologised to Leuluai and then awarded the try.

Nathan Brown was also complimentary on his performance that night as I recall.

sanjunien......are you for f*****g real?



not really......im pointing out the things that i think are relevant to this thread ie 'the ref being !'

where did i blame the ref for the defeat? you seemed to omit the fact i said we were poor!!



let me guess....it took a replay on tv at home for you to notice that






so you've not actually been in that stand then.....

A. its not finished!
B. the stairs are VERY steep
C. allowing 100's of kids to sit on the steps
D. BIG metal rebar's sticking out of the sides of the steps (trip hazard yes?)
E. the seats themselves are the worst ive ever sat in....and ive been to Elland Road

obviously safety certificates dont exist in france ( god i could be so un-PC now but i wont!)