Interesting to see in the post game interviews yesterday that Royce Simmons is going to be having words with Stuart Cummings over the refereeing in SL. He quoted a statistic that Saints have received only 3 penalties for offside during the entire season and that the norm for other clubs is 15-18. Utterly bizarre stat given the relative strength of Saints pack and team in general and how they base their game around speed at the play the ball.

Another matter he'll no doubt bring up is Ian Smith being allowed anywhere near a Saints game again. I really don't know what his problem with Saints is, but it needs to be stopped.

In other news I see the RFL have promised to look at the scheduling of the international origin game after complaints from some clubs. One wonders which clubs that could have been

James Childs seems to have a unique ability to bring people together. Whatever the result, whether a team wins or loses, or its a draw, both clubs are always upset with James Childs.

I imagine any club who had players on duty in Origin and were then expected to back up less than 48 hours later. If the game is not to be played on a blank weekend, then it needs to be played on a Wednesday night, to give players a chance to recover. The RFL's first priority should be to the welfare of the players

Clubs have a squad of players,they are not limited to 17.As usual,coaches just looking for excuses.Rugby Union and cricket,play league games on the same day as Internationals

The Origin game should be a 3 game series played on the Wednesday evening when the State of Origin is played.

As for officiating it is at an all time low in standards currently even though it is now a full time job for most of them. I generally have a bit of sympathy for them because it is such a difficult job however when there are such contrasts in performances even from the same official, game to game it has to be worrying for the RFL.

The RLFans resident officials will be all over this thread soon though!

Inconsistencty of application is my greatest bugbear. Ganson has no latitiude about slowing down the PTB, Thaler the opposite. Childs picks up on eaverything, Silverwood lets it go.

At least they're consistent with their individual approach



Andy you missed out Alibert, who can't be consistent as even he doesn't know what calls he's giving.

The call against Eastmond was tough, agreed. Saints got away with a lot yesterday. Wilkin should have gone for 10 for his late, high hit on Herbert, Roby was lucky to avoid the bin for his attempt at a chicken wing, and Saints won the penalty count too when they could have been pulled for a lot more.

I'm not sure we need to align it with the SOO in Australia, but I would agree with it being a 3 game series. I might be on my own, but I thoroughly enjoyed the Exiles game. There is so much they could do with it.

Only 3 penalties all year for offside, surely that can't be right?

Think you got 2 against us (although that might for been not square)

Childs will get all the attention on his performance yesterday (quite rightly) but i though he was assisted by the worst set of touch judges i have ever seen. There was a forward pass in the first half on Saints own line, it was "miles forward" as some would say, yet the touch judge on the near side where the PTB was, was standing with the defending team.

The Wilkin ball steal was laughable (even Wilkin couldn't hide it), the entire crowd saw it, yet the same touch judge couldn't see it from 2m from his nose.

Obviously Saints got a few calls against them as well but i thought the TJ's were awful yesterday.

My thoughts entirely, but he did say it.

yes yes yes lets please make it 3 games on a wednesday night we have to find a way to beat the Aussies this maybe our best shot

How many times have Saints been penalised for it? Should be almost every play the ball.

Why?



Saints are far and away the most disciplined side in the world of Rugby League.

1 Crusaders -151
2 Bradford - 147
3 Catalans - 146
4 Wakefield - 141
5 Leeds - 137
6 Huddersfield - 131
7 Salford - 128
8 Warrington - 118
9 Castleford - 118
10 Wigan - 114
11 Hull - 113
12 Harlequins - 111
13 Hull Kingston Rovers - 107
[i14 St Helens - 86 [/i

Saints by name and Saints by nature...

Wigan got no pens against Catalans last week in the second half, well done to them for having good dicipline but that is not exactly a regular thing....

Seen quite a few dodgy pen counts throughout the season, they have such a big impact on games.

As I said previously. Never get penalised when shoud. "Saints line speed"...nah, just offside alot.

I think the whole officiating team should be removed from duty after last night after all 4/5 of them failed to count to 6 on the set that Bradford scored from.

Accommodating a 3 match origin series shouldn't be as problematic as people seem to think. If the first match was played on a Friday night, with the next the following Wednesday, followed by the final match on Sunday, then you only need to clear two weekends, instead of three.

OK, so no Super League for two weeks. Terry O'Connor suggested that a lower key Lancs/Yorks series could be played to create a double header and to keep the flatcappers happy. A cynic would also say that it knackers out twice as many players, not just the elite, which might not be a bad thing in terms of any imbalance created by certain clubs being more affected than others.

make it a 2 game series,winner decided by aggregate score...


start the season 1 week early and enter the SL clubs into the challenge cup at round5 instead of round4....that will create a 2week gap to have a 2 game series..i'd host the games back to back and i'd also have the england knights play curtain raisers against wales,scotland,ireland or france

3 games series on friday nights with all Super league matches played the following sunday with SL squads made up of players 25 years or younger.

About time.

Also i believe rlfans should get a petition going. James Childs is officially the worst referee in superleague. The fact that this man is a professional really hurts the sport.

Along with 95% of touch judges.

Reffing in superleague is at an all time low

is it just me or did anyone else notice that on kearneys try bradford got an extra tackle?

had to watch it again this morning to make sure but james child called second tackle twice, surely a full time ref should be able to count :s

as for the touch judges dont think they have bothered to make a decision so far this season

Perhaps all those supporters whingeing about the Exile game should have thought of the concequences before voting for half their own team instead of going for the better options.

i know alot of SL fans voted for players from their rivals

I'd drop the Magic Weekend (free up one week), seed R4 of the Challenge Cup so it's R3 winners vs SL clubs (so clubs won't be as affected by the loss of players to England and the Exiles) and then have to double up one weekend (as we do now).

I'd also have more than just England vs the Exiles each weekend.

England vs Exiles (3-test series)
Yorkshire vs Lancashire (3-test series)
Wales vs France vs Ireland vs Scotland (3 games round robin, European Cup)
Lebanon vs Italy vs Russia vs Serbia (3 games round robin, European Shield)
Germany vs Czech Republic vs Malta vs Catalonia (3 games round robin, European Bowl South)
Norway vs Sweden vs Latvia vs Ukraine (3 games round robin, European Bowl North)

We need to show that we have international games, and have international windows. If we start it, and develop it, then hopefully the southern hemisphere lot will follow suit round origin time (they're never gonna drop origin, but why can't the Kiwis play at the same time?).