I thought he didn't like Wakefield but seems he doesn't like you lot either. disgraceful as a ref.

No point blaming the ref. We had plenty of penalties in that game, enough to win a couple of games.

While I agree he is an awful ref don't think he had it in for us. We lost to the better team on the night. I think he is poor for most teams

I agree there isn't any point in blaming the ref, the blame lies with the players - they were very poor... However, the ref is totally inept - he shouldn't be reffing SL grade Rugby League - he makes every game VERY, VERY frustrating to watch and some of his decisions are baffling.

Sinfield challenged him on the late knock and said "By who?" Child responded "Not sure which player" - HOW!? and HOW!? did he not see that try that was disallowed, he gave it as a try yet there was about 4 inch of separation between the hand and the ball - he had his head at near enough ground level!

He was appalling tonight. Pretty much every knock-on/strip/six more decision he got wrong, it was almost uncanny for both sides.

When he sent the Turner drop upstairs as a try when he was stood in perfect position about a foot away from it said it all.

It's comical how many of his decisions are the result of just pure guesswork. It's no wonder players get frustrated, which leads to tempers boiling over and games becoming indisciplined.

That he is considered to be among the six best match officials in the UK shows how far the officials department at the RFL regressed under the "leadership" of Jon Sharp. Thankfully, he's gone although I have absolutely no confidence in a better successor being appointed. Probably just keep it in house and give it to Ganson.

It's the constant laying on and inconsistent ref decisions that annoying me

Yes poor but think we need to adopt the same system the nrl does. The video ref helps out during play with tight calls or foul play missed. People will complain saying it will slow game down but seen loads of nrl and it doesnt.

Saints very much worthy winners tonight and this isn't a gripe about the result but about the standard of refereeing.

Thaler is the best by an absolute country mile and I have hopes that the new young one (is it Joe Cobb?) could be a good ref. The rest vary from merely acceptable to poor. Some due to ego, some due to narrow interpretations, some due to unwillingness to adapt etc etc.

At the moment, unless we get Thaler, I have no confidence the game will be reffed very well.

I won't blame the ref, he got lots wrong on the night and was inept in both directions. We just weren't good enough on the night. Hope the lads get can get their heads back on before next week or all the premature talk of a treble will look very stupid,

Nail on the head right there.

Tonight proved his ineptitude, the video showed repeatedly when he was guessing, because he gave decisions for things that didn't happen.

I despise him as a referee. He isn't biased, he's incompetent.

He isn't the reason Leeds lost tonight, they did all that damage themselves; but he is the only official I get wound up by when watching a game as a neutral.

Yes the ref is consistently incompetent;our performance was poor tonight,but saints were fresher mentally and physically.Wembley was a big drain.I do feel we contrived to make Burns and Wilkin look world class when they ain't.If we had a classless coach like Cunningham that performance may have been described as embarrassing.

I wrote this at the beginning of the season after another game ruined by Child.... I stand by it all....

Though I would add - he's not the reason Leeds lost tonight - far too sloppy as a team throughout.

Agree with all that's been said ! Child is terrible. Terrible guesses, applies the rules pedantically and you can depend on him to blow his whistle more than most. His reaction to Sinfield's question 'knock on by who?' sums him up. He didn't know but 'I just bluddy say so', okay !!

I don't normally comment on referees, but this bloke is poor, fortunately he was poor for both teams tonight.

He was indeed poor for both - I believe he enters a game with a pre-determined view on what offences each team are usually guilty of (probably based on reviews of previous games) - this means he refs the game expecting those penalties/errors. So for instance, last night he'd decided Saints would be testing the 10m or holding down to slow Leeds attack - so pinged them for it as often as possible, not taking into account that a player might be 'trapped in' etc - some weeks it's like he thinks a team are often guilt of ball stripping, so whenever the other team lose the ball in collision, it's automatically a stripping penalty.

Leeds were poor tonight.
Saints are average and lucky to play a below strength Leeds 6 days after the final.
Child was awful. Just awful.

Agreed, the decision to go to the VR for the dropped ball was comical he couldn't have been any closer , obviously no confidence at all .

I don't think anyone on her would disagree with your last point. Child remains dreadful though.

He is terrible ref, but not the reason we lost the game. I hope he is nowhere near a playoff or international game.

Whilst we are discussing referees shortcomings or otherwise, the decisions regarding Achurch and the one at the Giants Thursday night seemed to me to be highly questionable.
Downward pressure on the ball ,remote in the extreme.
I presume they have changed the rules, a few seasons ago both those scores would have been chalked off.
Or maybe a precedent was set on Thursday night and that decision is the benchmark for things to come.

Cummings said he isn't allowed to guess

First of all no sour grapes - we were poor, Saints were better and the best team won.

But out of all the people on the pitch last night, the person that had the worst game off all of them was Child.

I know that refs can have an off game every now and again but Child has yet to have an 'on' game. I saddens me to think that he is one of the best officials in the game.

On two separate occasions last night, I honestly believe that Child was directly influenced by both the South Stand and players to make decisions that he might not have otherwise given.

How can we play back to back games with completely polarised refereeing standards?

At the game last night when Achurch went over I turned to my mate and said "if they gave that try for Huddersfield they've got to give this one" but IMO neither of these dubious decisions should have resulted in a score.

Downward pressure??? Control???

Neither are required by the laws of the game.

All that is needed is for the player to place the ball on the ground, in other words have continuous contact between hand and ball all the way down the turf.

Control and downward pressure are arbitrary terms, how do you define them? As least this way you have a clear set of criteria.