LOL

You actually counted them, the word ‘sad’ was invented for occasions like this.

Gigot is Cats entire attacking force ???

Is he their entire defensive force too

that is the very definition of a one man team if true

The game would be cleaner all round if refs were tougher. They’d know they would t be able to get away with stuff so wouldn’t do it.

I was sad about it, I had to have a shot every time he said it.

I was playing Sky Super League Bingo with my Dad. I had Hicks’ “mate” and me Father had O’Connor’s “big big man” of which there were only four or five.

Oops. I just said “thanks mate” to the pizza delivery guy even though I had never met him before.

Sorry!

Impressive attendance of 10,284 for today's game including 2,000 from Hull.

From Russia with Love

You were right, it was.

You’re not laying down or officiating the laws of the game of pizza or road traffic to him though are you?

I’ve referee’d rugby league games. You don’t call the players “mate”.

It’s like when a teacher calls a pupil in his class “mate”, you just don’t do it.

Rugby union referees (who command far greater respect from players than rugby league refs do) are often heard saying “I’m not your mate” “I’m not your coach”. Especially the latter when players are asking about decisions or tactics of the opposition.

Rugby league refs coach teams through games and call the players mate or by their first name. I think that breeds too much familiarity and allows them to think they can get away with stuff so push the boundaries making our game worse for it.

I’m no fan of Union but they have it bang on. Players should be referred to by their shirt colour and number and should never be coached through games.

But that wasn't the problem though it was the defence that was atrocious, yesterday was yet another game were they missed 60+ tackles and hence another 50 points leakage drubbing.

I dont actively dislike Union. However their game is littered with numerous technical offences which occur in just about every ruck and the referee will, it sometimes appears, randomly decides if a penalty is awarded. There are many opportunities for this to happen, partly due to being in the wrong position when prone on the floor and the defender is unable to move out of the way. Consequently there were a couple if decades when the England RU team (and a fair few club sides) focused on gaining technical penalties to have a shot at goal. Hardly a riveting watch. Of course the RU marketing machine which runs 100% more efficiently than the RL one made a hero out of Jonny Wilkinson because he kicked goals.

RL does not have the financial clout of RU, so has to make its game more of a try scoring, entertaining event. If the referee chipping with with a few comments to help the game flow then thats fine.

I am not really sure when you thing the players are being coached. The referee is not telling them how to tackle or how to split a defensive line. More often than not he is saying " player X, you are offside" or " don't get involved" so the game flows and we don't end up in penalty fest.

Spot on MMJ. I was just going to post similar. Also Union refs do “coach” teams if we’re going to use that term. They actively tell players they’re offside, to keep retreating from a kick through, to either get out of the ruck or stay where they are out of the way etc.

At amateur level I’ve had refs call me mate, it’s not altered my opinion of him at all. It’s the referees decisions that define him not that term. Personally I think it shows he can have a good relationship with most players.

These players are adults, not children. If you speak to them like school children then you’ll get the disdain and disregard a lot of school children have for their teacher.

I think our refs are too much like that anyway. You can see sometimes when a ref has had to make a 50/50 call that he can’t have been certain yet he tells the players that so and so definitely dropped it or it was definitely ripped out. All that does is get players backs up who saw different from a different angle. Just say “from what I saw it looked like he dropped it”. No player can actually argue with that. Treat them like adults.

Also worth mentioning that the NRL refs regularly call players mate and they are regularly lauded on here as being better than ours.

Without wanting to assume the social circles of refs / players, but given there are so few refs, on average they are statistically bound to officiate (on field ref / VR / flag waver / 4th official etc) at least once a month. Its not beyond reasonable that they speak to each other after the games?

Well said mate.

Joshua Griffin - in beast mode
Marcus Sneyd - deadly
Jacob Connor - elegant
Ratatouille Naulago - unstoppable

Don't know how long Josh Griffin has been playing in the second row but it sounded as though he is really effective in opening up defences and creating havoc down the middle.

he's had the odd spell there but that was possibly his first start, though he did move into the centres later to cover after kelly went off and connor switched to stand off

In all fairness to Catalan the French aren't well known for their defence

Naval Battles
Land Wars
Civil War (they lost to themselves)

or do or you mean in RL terms?

Rl terms Jean

It's not Jean, it's Standee. He's had more regenerations than Doctor Who.

The original

It is evident that this poster winds people up. Simply ignore him . If you don’t pay him attention he will get bored.
You all bite and that is what feeds his ego . When he doesn’t post your are asking where he is , you reap what you sow people .