According to the Warrington board it is Mr Silverwood.
Shame as I thought Thaler might have got it.
Hopefully he will even out the 50/50 calls this Saturday and make up for the wrong calls from last week

Ref Silverwood
Video Ref BENTham
TJ James Child & Clint Sharrad
Reserve Ref - Thaler

Honestly thought this would be Ben Thaler's gig after his performances this year.

Horrible news.

Just been on the rfl site, it's true. Can't say im overly happy with it as both ref and vid ref seem to have it in for us in big games, time will tell I suppose. I hope nothing happens to Mr Silverwood between now and ko time

Thaler had a terrible game (both ways) for Catalans vs Leeds, and then there was the howler in the semi-final. The boards of all clubs but Leeds would have combusted if he got the gig.

Surprised it's not Ganson, but Silverwood generally means a slower play-the-ball and defenders getting away with a bit more so we have to adapt accordingly.

Thaler is clearly on the rise. His time will surely come.

However his offside call against St Helens when they had every right to pressure Warrington into the corner was IMO poor and the fact Warrington scored off the resulting penalty proved a turning point in the contest. One that St Helens never recovered from.

That came off the back of McDermott's after-match comments at Wigan where he asked such passages be allowed to conclude without unneccesary interference from the officials. Don't know if the rules currently allow for a ball spilled at the PTB to be handed back rather than penalised as was the case at the DW but I fully understood where McDermott was coming from when applying his plea to the incident at Langtree Park the following night.

The offside call appeared marginal from the footage and why would an official wish to suddenly become almost uniquely pedantic in that situation?

Bad news yes, espcially considering the amount of wrong decisions he made in the game last Friday. However, of far more dissapointment to me is the appointment of Warrington fan and consistenly incorrect decision maker, of Bentham as video ref.

Re the video referee: Bentham came up through the Warrington refereeing society (although apparently a Leigh fan) and was the referee in charge when Warrington ended their 9 year 11 month 25+ match drought V St Helens but I wouldn't personally read any significance in to that.

Silverwood wants to win both cups for Warrington.

This.

does it really matter who the ref is? we'll beat 14 if its needed. If the players dwell on it it'll surely fire them up more than anything. With it being a grand final the ref has to be on his toes and not make a c0ck up as theres many beady eyes watching.

Im just disappointed that Child keeps running the line against us. he seems to run the line in a lot of our games

Even the Wigan fans felt Silverwood sided with them and that`s saying something.
Was it Silverwood and Bentham at Wembley?
If not Thaler I would have gone for St Ganson with Silverwood 3rd choice.
Whilst I agree that the ref should not come into us winning or not.
You have to say that some poor calls can give momentum to the opposition or worse still gift them a try.
The ref does not come into it if we win by plenty which is unlikely this Saturday.

How can he get both CC and GF?
Not only has he made as many f##k ups as Thaler he's also served suspension for his off field antics the same with Child he only gets involved IF he can be bothered or its Bailey.
Expect a penalty to us then 4/5 on the bounce to them as a reply!!

You can't be serious about Thaler after his displays throughout the playoffs, or maybe (using just one example) you are happy to have a referee that allows a Leeds player to stand next to the play the ball when defending his own line. This was as crucial, if not more so, in your win in France as the Warrington penalty mentioned earlier on Saturday night. I think Thaler was very poor (both ways) in both our games with Saints, and he was truly horrendous (again both ways) in your game last week.

You have to make your own luck with referee calls, if you play strong and not stupid you will get the calls. Poor calls even out and the bad ones from last week might go our way this week.

I Thought and hoped that Silverwood had blown his chance after his poor showing last Friday. A bit like Thaler lost out on Wembley (IMHO) after his 'errors' in our CC Semi v Wigan.

I was hoping for Thaler for Saturday but expecting Ganson who I still feel would be better for us than Silverwood.

I know all refs get abuse and all make mistakes but it just seems over recent seasons (possibly since the WCC v Melbourne) that his 'style' doesnt fit well with us or at least certain players?

He absolutely did his best to give Wigan that game last friday. And failed.

Guess we have to play against 14 again this saturday - bring it on

While we're on the subject of refs and reffing decisions can anyone explain whether I have the following right or not

Friday's game about 54 minutes:

Wigan kick to corner
Charnley palms ball back to Goulding
Goulding kicks ahead
Hall knocks on attempting to pick ball up, scrum Wigan.....but

Charnley was in front of Goulding and within 10m of Hall so surely it shold have been offside, penalty Leeds

None of the commentary team picked it up, but I've watched the replay and I'm sure it should have been our ball

Are you talking about the one where he was downtown at the PTB tvoc? If so Thaler got that right. If you are downtown at the PTB you can't be brought back on-side from a kick or by the kicker. If not that one then I am lost at which one you mean, but I was watching and working at the same time.

I'm not that concerned as to which referee takes charge of the GF as i have witnessed plenty of GF's which have been allowed to be refereed and under completely different rules when compared to what gets penalised in the weekly rounds

Sides standing Off-side, players holding down in the tackle, players not standing square at the PTB and other minor indiscretions are clearly ignored on this day by the referee, I just hope that both sides get the same leeway

The Video referee clearly has a sole objective each week of delivering the correct decision on what he sees in each individual incident based on his interpretations

However their interpretations clearly vary on a weekly basis and all SL sides have been robbed of games throughout the season

I hope that Saturday's game isn't one that will be decided by either of the officiating party in control

Cast your mind back 12 months to an offside decision given against Richie Myler which gave you the lead with seconds to go. Would you say that Myler had every right to pressure Sinfield seeing as he was going for the match winning drop goal? Both very marginal decisions, but 12 months ago, considering the Myler decision was handing the match to Leeds, pedantic beyond belief.

Other than it being an offside decision nothing else that occurred in the 'downtown' incident fitted my description so probably not.

As you say the downtown decision was correct. It appeared to be touch judge Robert Hicks who made the call indeed you can pick him up communicating with Thaler - 'Makinson downtown' on the Sky broadcast.



If you have access to the SL Fulltime program - not sure if it's available online - it was covered quite well on there.

According to the studio guests the score was 14 - 18 at the time. St Helens were cramming Warrington into a corner restricting yardage. St Helens line speed was very good and they were a fair ten metres from the Warrington play the ball although Thaler was stood more than ten when he penalised for offside.

It was a perfect example of what McDermott was bemoaning the previous night.

After the penalty Warrington kicked to touch took one hit-up through Ben Harrison and then shifted the ball left through Myler to Atkins who stepped clear and got an offload away inside to Waterhouse who finished strongly. Game over - St Helens never got another look in until the contest was over, IMO.

This is the best summary of the situation - the Leeds players and Silverwood just can't get a decent relationship going, certainly a referee like Thaler has a much better on field rapport with players of all teams which is important to get them to do what you want with least bother. At best, like on Friday, the players control themselves and just ignore him. But that can be remarkably difficult. At worst, Sinfield and other players start having a word and then that just makes it worse.

Whose fault is that? I don't know - but as referee your player management and game management is crucial and the ongoing difficulties Leeds have had with this referee since that Keith Senior incident makes it a concern.

Thaler has a habit of pinging players for offside when defending their own line if their feet are over the line just a little bit, NOW THAT IS PEDANTIC.