Hopefully we will be talking about our superb performance and not the ref's performance, nothing is going to spoil Friday! Nothing!

Agreed he will let Wigan lie on all night long!

You are competely overlooking the fact that minutes earlier he had made a mistake which Bradford fans will claim gifted the game to us when missing a touch by Morley inside our 10 which should have meant Bulls getting an extra set of 6 on our line. Refs make mistakes same as players do, what they don't do is miss tackles, drop the ball or score tries - that is down to the players on the pitch...

Yeah to be fair I did fail to mention that in my post, but the point I was trying to make is that as much as Silverwood is liable to make mistakes, so it every other referee. Interestingly your post has brought another dimension to the debate, as it shows how bad refereeing decisions are often applied to both sides. Arguably the mistake which you pointed aided us in the Bradford game, whilst another error minutes before full time aided Bradford. The difference is we went on to win the game.

In my post I was trying to be positive about Silverwood's selection, pointing out from our position in the league and Challenge Cup that we are the kind of team who can handle adversity, play strongly at a fairly consistent level and therefore shouldn't be bothered who the man in the middle is.

I agree with you on the matter that the team shouldn't be bothered about who the ref is. It backs up the point that we both made that referee mistakes even themselves up over the season, or indeed over the match as it did in the Bradford cup tie.

What really winds me up is the muppets who come on every week crying "oh it's such and such a ref this week, he's a cheat/biased to the other team/can't referee to save his life/Stuart Cummins hasn't a clue about anything" and can't get their minds around the fact that the choice of referee doesn't make the blindest bit of difference. If these idiots think it so easy to ref a match why don't they try it?

To be fair Cummings doesn't have much of a clue.

Did you not watch the WCC? Silverwood slowing the game down, this game is perfect for fats open Rugby, from us anyway, so why pick Silverwood? Ganson would of suited this game alot better.

I did watch it - have you not watched any of the matches Silverwood has reff'd since? Saints v Leeds was a cracker. Wire v Wigan at the HJ was one of the 2 best games of the season, one regarded by many as of NRL intensity. Ref's don't change matches, players do. If it's so easy to ref, let me know when you make your SL debut in the middle.

All I am saying is he is not the right man to Ref such this high intensive game. Yes I did watch our game at the HJ as I watch every game of ours and did you not notice the lying on in the tackle by Wigan effectively slowing the game down?

Ganson would of been the best choice as he is regarded as the best Ref in S.L with Silverspud reffing the Humberside derby on Thursday night.

It's all about opinions.

I am presuming that in your opinion Daniel Anderson, Justin Morgan, Ian Millward and Daniel Potter are all muppets and idiots when it comes to matters relating to rugby?

Thye have all expressed very strong views about the performance of particular referees affecting the results of their teams.

I would suggest that the style of a referee has a massive affect on the style and outcome of a game, to suggest otherwise to me is plain daft. Maybe it is that the playiong style of certain teams are not suited to the refereeing style of certain referees, such as Wigan with Bentham, Saints with Smith and us with Silverwood.

Or maybe it's that Silverwood has always had it in for Warrington ever since his topless car-bonnett surfing in Perpignan? A quick look at results with and without Silverwood as referee are pretty persausive that something is not right between him and Warrington.

Precisely, well said Paul.

It was like that with Klein to be honest and I know why.

Being a top team is all about taking the rough with the smooth and sticking to a successful game plan.

I am confident that Warrington are a team with such quality that even where referees do focus on different aspects of a game (which is arguable that they do), we will be able to produce the goods.

I think people do have an argument that for a game of this calibre, the most qualified/ experienced referee should have been selected as they are for Grand Finals etc, as it is going to be a nationwide showcase for our game. However even this argument is countered by the consideration that as independent mediators, it is unfair to cherry pick certain officials for particular LEAGUE games.


Out of interest does anyone know if in theory all officials are meant to officiate the same or a similar number of games (barring unpredictable events such as injury), or are there some referees who get more league games than others?

Good post.

All that I'm aware of is that referees are picked on how they perform the week before, the ref that performs the best will get the biggest game.

Thanks Wire_74.

Oh right I wasn't aware of that, it seems an interesting way to pick referees but I suppose there is logic in there somewhere.

I think Cummings has publicly gone out and said this, but I'm not sure, I have definitley read it somewhere.

You would think that referees are distributed as evenly as possible across all teams within reason to ensure that certain teams can't accuse referees of being biased against them or having a "style" which clashes with their own game plan.

There are obviously implications to this plan, namely that it undermines the idea that all referees should ultimately be the same anyway.

Again just out of interest, does Alibert referee more Catalan games than other referees or does the fact that he is French count for nothing?

i never hear people talk about ref's in the wendyball game like this,do people really think that proffesional ref,s can really be biased against a team or are people just basing it on results of games we lost with certain referees,thats what i think for what its worth,as someone as said its down more to how the player,s perform on the day.

Gutted to hear Silverwood has this gig..I have NEVER repeat NEVER seen this guy handle a high profile game well....

I think we all do

Not at all althout not too sure who Daniel Potter is, guess you mean Mick Potter. These coaches and others make comments about refereeing performances after a game where a refereeing mistake may have appeared to influenced a game. Mistakes happen and if any one of those can hold their hands up to say they have never selected an unfit player or made a signing that's backfired I'd be amazed. Anderson & Millward were/are also adept at the pre-match psychology where they attempt to pressurise a referee by highlighting the opposition's perceived weaknesses, part of the game.

To continue to suggest that a referee is biased against particular clubs is small-minded and verging on libelous to question their professional integrity.

So when do you take your refereeing exams?

Guess I'm small minded and best check with my lawyer about conflicts of interest with Richard Silverwood then.

I'm not taking any refereeing exams primarily because I have a life: when are you taking yours?

Have a listen to Fergie or Benitez.

We need to win despite the ref

imagine getting to a GF then seeing the ref and thinking 'what's the point'

Winning mentality and a winning team can win despite all this

What's everyone's view on Phil Bentham as a referee? Didn't he have a good game on Sunday?

Would it be better to have Bentham or Ganson ref Wires V Saints?

Or would Silverwood, Thaler or Alibert be better? Or Smith?!!

First took them 20 years ago in my sport - have updated regularly since then