Avtually its a case yet again of fans not knowing or understanding the laws or policies and applying their own limited knowledge to what is going on. The ref will not allow a quick restart if not all of the attacking team are on side. He will not allow a quick restart if a ball other than the one that has just gone dead is used and he will not allow a quick restart if he has not crossed the 20 metre line. Also let me clarify something further for you, standing in front of the 30 at a 20 metre restart and then tackling the player over or on it does not constitute off side as you also heard the crowd calling for it yesterday at Wigan.

What really hacks me off is fans who believe the rubbish they are fed by Eddie and Stevo and repeat it as fact. Fans who have a limited knowledge or understanding of the laws of the game and use that in an attempt to review the officials performance. Would they like me to review their work performance when I almost certainly know as little about what they do for a living as they do about refereeing an RL game? I doubt it very much.

The referee is most likely talking to the defensive line, instructing them to hold before the ball is brought back into play with the foot.

Spot on.

The days of Robin Whitfield and the like blowing for a penalty just so they could have a rest are well behind us, thankfully.

The real problem is inconsistency, if a ref wants to let the game flow then play that way all the way through for both sides, if they are going to be pedantic then play that way all the way through for both sides. But I want to see them consistent week in week out, as changing their interpretation from game to game leads to the suspicion that they are being influenced by the playing styles of different sides. Anyone with half a brain knows all sides want quick ptb in possession and slow ptb when defending, but most sides are better at one than the other, or focus more on one than the other, so the interpretation matters not just within in a game, but from week to week. If a ref decides to hammer slowing tactics one week and then is more lenient with same tactics the following week it looks like he's showing bias between teams.

Not playing the ball with the foot is something that needs to be clamped down on as it happens numerous times in every game. I can recall a team going an entire set of six without playing the ball correctly once during a game this year.

If I remember correctly, the player only needs to attempt to make a play at the ball rather than actually using his foot.