is he a just filling in as Ref because
He should learn ther learn therulesfirstas he not even shore how to use apply them

Ive given up brow beating this idiot it serves no purpose he aint got a clue got to be one of the worst refs in history.

Fair point Horbury cat, though he seems to save something special for us. Fafita's penalty for moving off the mark was hilarious. He didn't, unless you count the actual step forward to play the ball. He moved forward after he played it but I think it was all a bit too quick for poor James. Or he just hates us, which I think is a distinct possibility

Very frustrating but he couldn't stop the inevitable, although Eddie tried his best by saying that Child had given 'no try' but he neglected to add that Child had asked for the possibility of a penalty try.
It was a 'no try', as Miller didn't ground it but the infringement wasn't in doubt.

Just come back from Craven Park today and saw a refereeing performance in a par with Child.

Hope he never refs us based on that performance.

Remember the name C Straw

Just come back from Craven Park today and saw a refereeing performance in a par with Child.

Hope he never refs us based on that performance.

Remember the name C Straw

Twins then

Yes. Identical.

Stupid phone.

the problem with fifita and its the same with his brother here in the NRL is that they give so many pens away - that every time they are in a tackle or with the ball the ref is looking closely at what they are doing and every time it looks like something is happening it always going to be him that "supposedly " caused it.

If that player was anyone else other than fifta it would not of been a penalty.

in saying all that thought- the ref tried as hard as he could to make saints win that game it was embarrassing!!!!!!!!!

The Fifita penalty was a joke, it seems to be an option for a ref to award a penatly against a play just because he can.

I've no issue with the Fifita penalty actually - as long as it applied consistently. Its just we don't see it applied anywhere else at all.

He shouldn't be trundling forward like that after playing the ball and compromising the markers. He kept doing it after the penalty as well but got away with it.

And therein lies the problem - you will see players moving off the mark many times over the course of a weekend, but it's rarely penalised; he suddenly decided to penalise Fifita for it - and it lead directly to a try, which put Saints back in the game.

The issue with Mr Child, in my view, is that he's liable to penalising a particular player rather than an offence.

I agree with this. By the laws of the game it was a penalty all day long. The only problem is we have lack of consistency which is why I (and others) get frustrated.

The next penalty against Fifita (not "Fafita" for those who persistently spell it incorrectly) I thought was harsh. It was a tackle where Fifita retained control, it just looked unusual.

But the timing of the penalties, the number of head-high shots that Sts got away with and other little niggles throughout the game could make you suspicious its the Ref trying to get one team back into the game at the expense of impartiality. Not quite as obvious as Ganson was, but he's working on it!

Agree totally

My main gripe with Child is that he probably knows the rules too much and penalises way too often for minor technical stuff, without applying common sense and letting the game flow to any extent. Basically he spoils a lot of games and turns it into the James Child show, much to its detriment.

Oh and that he always seems to spoil our games far too often.

In a vacuum, the Fifita trundle forward should be penalty. The rough treatment of Fages is borderline but Child will always choose to penalise for borderline stuff. Fifita needs to be smarter in my opinion as he does stand out to refs and the opposition team will play on that.

James Child seems to hold a grudge longer than most women do against a certain player or a certain team.

I thought he was having an okay game until the second half, when I wondered whether his Saints-loving boss had got in his ear at half-time in the way he did with Roby, the last time (probably) we were ahead against Saints at half-time. The dubious calls seemed to go Saints way after half-time.

To be fair to him though, he could have just ruled out the Miller try. He thought it was a penalty try that would probably give us the game and he asked for it to be checked. if he hadn't have bothered, because he could see that Miller hadn't grounded it, we wouldn't have won.

I thought Ganson was no longer on the RL scene?

I also thought the Saints player should have been binned for a professional foul.

Well I for one thought Mr Child had a first class game. Only 13 penalties ( 8 to Saints 5 to Trinity ). He allowed the game to flow as much as possible, he instructions were clear. He did not penalize not standing square and offside unless it was obvious. Fafita moning of the mark was a blatant penalty, yes other players moved of the mark but not as much as Fafita did on that occasion, he was running into the defenders. Our coaches need to get him sorted on that area. Yes Mr Child could have blown 30 penalties at least for moving of the mark, that would have wrecked the game, he only gave the most obvious. The way the refs have been instructed to rule on obstruction means that he again made the correct call on the possible Saints obstruction prior to one of their tries. He called the Miller penalty try perfectly, under huge pressure he very professionally ignored the state of the game, the home fans. He called exactly what he saw : no try as Miller got nowhere been allowed to touch the ball down and Please check for a possible penalty try.
All in all a first class performance from Mr Child. A tough job and in those conditions he made some quality decisions. He performance matched our players superb effort. Credit where credit is due.

Liked the way he did not sin bin MCB for holding down as well.

Still say that the timing of the penalties was designed to cause maximum impact on the game. TBF he could have binned MCB for the holding down penalty - but I dont want to be fair, Ive seen him ref us out of too many games and also cause havoc from the sidelines.

Can someone please clarify the exact ruling ??
From what I saw Fifita played the ball correctly and then moved forward, however, as he did so the two Saints markers split and turned back towards their own line. Fifita was nowhere near them at any point and certainly did not make contact with either and then Child blew for the penalty. if he had made contact and impeded them making a tackle then fair enough, but he didn't !!!

You are obviously not on message. Child hates Wakey & does his utmost to ensure they lose every game while deliberately winding up the speccies.

We have only won 5 out of the last 25 games that he has refereed. For whatever reason his 'style ' doesn't suit our players...