Not a Cas fan but really hope they win the GF this year, the antics of these 2 teams and some others are really turning me off the game but Wigan in particular embody everything I dislike about RL at the moment!

Excellent 2nd half..Good game to watch after the crap 1st half

Wigan played some good stuff but gutted to lose, felt Hull deserved it and ultimately the better team, but one with one hand tied behind their back.

Good game, but again the ref dominates the headlines

Accidental or not, he raised his elbow (albeit marginally and through instinct) at an oncoming defender and impacted the head. Impacting the head is a big no-no these days. Not sure what you don't understand about that, Roy the Referee?

As someone else said - and as it happens I agree - he's a victim of the rules.

Anyway, epic effort from Hull, absolutely outstanding for such a huge side to keep running like that. Not a game for the purist but I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Which is what?

Poor body position from Micky Mac resulting in getting his head in wrong place. Should never have been a red.

Radford was fair in his interview I thought.Don't see what else Hicks could have done in that 1st half, Griffin may cop ban as well? Sets up Thursdays tv game as a real cracker as both teams need the win and both will feel hard done by after loss

Fuck it, Micky Mac is a horrible .

Radford in his interview stating Rob Hicks got it wrong at Wembley with the Tony club no try. Poor old Robert Hicks had no involvement with the officiating in the challenge cup final

He tried to use that as a deflecting tool upfront so he could say that Hicks got the Watts decision incorrect, in the later local radio interview he was corrected by the interviewer and then followed to say that decisions go both ways that can still be both wrong.
That he got it wring over Hicks as the VR is kind of niether here nor there.
Of the two decisions the Watts one is an absolute shocker, completely wrong.

I would actually assume the call of the raised elbow came from the touch judge.

In the vast majority of tackles, the tackler will come into contact with the elbow of the carrier. It's almost impossible not to. For the very rare penalty of a tackler leading with the elbow, it is always raised to above shoulder height and deliberately delivered into the head or neck of a standing opponent. I have never, in 30+ years of watching, playing and refereeing rugby league, seen a player penalised because a tackler's head comes into contact with the carrier's arm in such an instance. To do that consistently would make the game unplayable.

In the same way, headbutts are illegal and a dismissal offence. Yet heads come into contact in a huge proportion of tackles. Context, intent and positioning are everything.

It was a mad decision, which was made by a referee who is clearly not yet ready for the pressure of this level of rugby.

You would think that, but the Rob Burrow incident last week makes a mockery of that!

He swaps the ball to his other hand knowing what's coming. He raises his elbow and leads with it. He knew what he was doing,or wouldn't have swapped hands.

As I've just posted on the Hull forum, he doesn't switch hands. The ball is never under his left arm. He catches the ball with 2 hands and places it immediately under his right arm. He's never going to drive in holding the ball out in front of him eith 2 hands, and putting it under his left would give more chance of McIlorum forcing an error should he hit under the ball with good impact.
The ball switching argument is a load of rubbish. His right hand literally never leaves the ball.

There's a slow motion video on Twitter for anybody who needs a replay to see this.

Every current player and ex player on Twitter saying it isn't a red card. Scott Taylor explains what Watts is doing to shield the ball at the screen with Wells. Never a red, poor technique from mcillorum who has led with his head in the wrong position.

It's a red, get over it Muppets

, FC still could have won but bottled it..

Hardly bottled it. To even get back into that game was an outstanding effort.

Wigan let you back in, should have been a cricket score..

Should not have been a penalty let alone a red card.

You can generally tell it's a nasty one as the opposition players will dish out some retribution. O'loughlin and Clubb closest to Watts with no sign of any aggression towards Watts.

The ref has reacted as McLorrum got hurt.

Oh, then there is the clear forward pass for Wigans 3rd!

tackler.

You never, ever penalise a player just because a tackler who has launched himself at a man's midriff gets his head in the wrong position and makes contact with an arm. You'd have to be mad to do so. Or Robert Hicks.

Some people need to play the game to understand what natural positions you get yourself into when taking the ball in and defending. Watts body position and fend all correct, Mcillorum technique is all wrong in order to put a shot on

On a different note, I must say I haven't enjoyed a game like that as a neutral for a long, long time. Thought the boiling/simmering aspect of it really added to the spectacle and complimented the nicer, ball in hand highlights. Well done to both teams and reminded me why I fell in love with rugby league.

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Well he manages to put the whole arm out after that and palms the next tackler. Your first instinct without the ball in that hand is to palm, not raise the elbow. We'll see what the review panel think of it.