Thought this one was worth a special thread of it's own....

For all the team deserve an enormous amount of credit for pulling that one out of the bag, I think we should all be very grateful to Mr Hicks for some very generous penalties late on.... Twice Ablett simply slopped the ball backwards with absolute minimal contact from a Hudds player and he gave the decision our way....

We're usually quick to hammer a ref, so thought I'd take a moment to appreciate a couple of crucial calls going our way for once (albeit incorrect calls - Hudds will rightly feel very aggrieved)... Thank you Robert!!!

Sinfield collected a grubber and got it knocked on by Ferres near our line which should've been a penalty to us but wasn't,

All in all his calls evened out in the wash.....and he didn't even have to be homosexual to get the gig.

Hicks was a refreshing change. The penalty count was about 5-4 in our favour? He let the game flow, which is what everyone wants. Take note Silverwood and Child

Who was the absolute tool who was running/diving when Sinfield was going for the conversion. We should have had another penalty from that. The player in question should have been off

Jack Hughes, on loan from Wigan, so no surprise.

....another penalty?
The award for the most ridiculous post of all time on any Fans Forum thread goes to....

Stuart Cummings said the same thing on the Sky commentary - so it must be correct

Calm down. Evidently you have know idea what I'm referring to

Pretty much anything Smokey TA or Sal Paradise has ever written???

Cummings is an embarrassment. The way he tried to argue that robinson hadn't knocked on surf belief

said it on twitter last night. hicks ignored a lot of petty infringments from both sides and the game was better for it.

We would have been penalised out of the game, had a certain other ref been the man in the middle.

Hicks has come on massively this season, ever since Magic Wedkend. It's like someone's took over him.

Thought he had a fair game. For me he was pretty consistent which is really what you want. Refs, just like players will always get bits wrong but as long as they are consistent in how they apply the rules I'm happy.

I thought the two penalties late on fire ablett looked soft, though on replays looked just about correct. Good to see him letting the gane flow and it was an enjoyable spectacle

I did actually think Hicks had a good game overall, let the game flow and just let the 2 teams go at it - facilitated the game very well, which allowed for the game to be very enjoyable - something some of the other refs could learn from.

However, those last couple of 'interference' penalties were generous, we'd have been fuming with Hicks if we'd been in Hudds shoes..

Don't agree at all. Firstly he let the game flow so credit there.

Secondly aside from marginal calls (like the Ablett knockon/steal and the Sinny/Ferres knock on) I don't think he made any clear cut errors...we expect too much.

The ref doesn't have endless replays and has to call what he sees if their consistent, let the game flow and get most calls correct (and marginal calls will always be debatable) then we can't ask for more.

Oh and as to ablett, can't remember the first one but the one at the end had a hand in, even Eddie changed his mind after the game when they watched many replays after the match

It was correct in the way that most of those type decisions can go either way. Yes the hand was on the ball, yes the ball came out a bit too easily. 50:50 for me and it went our way. If it was at another point in another game no one would have cared too much

I agree. Also Eddie banged on and on about it on sky - I really wish they wouldn't be so negative - saying it was 100% not a penalty before only after the game realising that there was a hand in so at worst it was marginal

Hicks best moment, which differentiated him from other refs, was the handling of the Ablett and Brough incident at the end. What the hell was going through Abletts head I don't know, but where other refs might well have penalised, Hicks came between them to diffuse the situation.

Yeah that was great reffing. A bit reminiscent of the "other code" one of the few things they do better in the few games I watch is that the refs communicate consistently with the players (albeit some of them, usually the English ones, in a very patronising school master tone)

Had a penalty been given it would have been utterly pot luck which side got it as it really was six of one and half a dozen of the other. Plenty of refs would've thought.

I think Hicks is now the best ref. Yes he gets things wrong, but all decisions from a referee are open to human error.

But I think he manages games very well. He controls situations and doesn't let players bully him. Whichever game it was he reffed last week (can't remember now) he pulled two players to one side and as one started moaning he just interrupted him dead and said "woah, shut it, it's my turn!" and the player did shut it and let Hicks have his say.

Thought he did ok overall and particularly for ignoring the baying from the Huddersfield supporters who shouted en mass for forward passes and offside the whole of the first half.

Hicks is good simply because he lets the game flow actually understands that the TVs camera and fans most importantly are there to watch the players and not the referee.
Childs however thinks it's all about him and that is another thing that him and Stuart Cummings have in common. In fact they are extremely similar in many many respects.
What is amusing though this season is child's has the highest decision overturn rate of any SL referee because he is guessing at decisions. Likewise Cummings makes a total buffoon of himself guessing and lecturing others and the evidence was last night with robinsons no try knock on.
It was obviously a knock on with no downward pressure but Cummings thought it was fine. When he was in charge of referees it was a nightmare and the famous graham Bradley incident should have prevented him from ever entering the field of play ever again.

I too was very impressed with hicks. He was constantly talking to both sets of players, making it clear what he expected and the players responded. There were a couple of moments where I thought the PTB was a bit slow, but other than that, an excellent example of good, effective refereeing. James Child really needs to learn from that sort of performance.

As for the penalty at the end that riled up Paul Anderson, his anger should be on his player. Whether Hicks makes the right decision or not, Ellis invites him to make a decision that he doesn't have to. Ellis could have his hand anywhere, but he chooses to put it in the vicinity of the ball. You can't poke a dog and complain when it bites.

I agree but if a penalty was to be awarded it would have gone our way imo Brough is f##king about at the ptb and then gives it the big un yes Ablett shouldn't have reacted but the instigater was DB.