To be fair the standard really has dropped this year and serious questions have to be asked whether is is money well spent on full time refereees. They're all having shockers. Gansons probably been the best by far thie year, but even he's had some poor games (London v.s Wakey springs to mind)

Ryan Bailey

Where is the option for the new referee in the ranks, Paul Wellens?

Saying that though, he has already served one suspension this season.

Tim Roby was diabolical in the Salford v Hull KR game

We hear the same EVERY YEAR that the "standard has dropped". Has the standard dropped? Or are people's wishful standards for years gone by what they're really comparing them to?

Good question.

I'm not so sure the standard has dropped, but I'm sure the game has got faster, making it harder for the refs.
I'm also pretty sure that there is less intervention from the touch judges, which hardly helps.

The whole refereeing structure needs looking at and Cummings getting rid of. We are a professional sport and are woefully let down by officiating and the wide inconsistancy shown every across single game and within a single match itself.
IF we could either give more powers to the touchies (who let's face it do knack all for the most part) or get another referee on the pitch to actually enforce the rules better & more consistantly I think fans & players alike would be far happier (aside ffrom the likes of Leeds/Warry & hudds..lol)

Alibert - For a presumably self respecting professional, one 7th tackle try is bad, two is indefensible.

It's not just referees missing ball strips through a crowd of players or stuff like that. It is basic refereeing standards.

Allowing a try on the 7th tackle. Once is poor and sloppy refereeing, twice is unforgivable. They would have been 5 officals wired up, surely ONE of them could have informed Alibert he miss counted.

Blatent forward passes. Yes we get them every year, but seems to be more this year. The one Warrington scored against Catalans is a perfext example. The Warrington player was stood still when he passed the ball and still the touch judge couldn't see it.

Players moving off the mark ALL through the season. then Ganson decides when a player moves an inch to the left it's a penalty. Then we have Gareth Hock moving 5m off the mark, putting his hand in the face of the marker then he gets the penalty.

Don't even get me started on consitency. Elima sin binned on Good friday for back chatting. He's no angel and likes to gob off. Not going to defend him. However when he got sin binned, he wasn't moaning in an agressive manner, he was stood next to the ref and wasn't frailing his arms about and Thaler whacked out the yellow card. Then we have Sam Tomkins screaming at the offical in an aggressive manner and doesnt even get a warning.

I know it's a difficult job been a referee, but it's the basic decisions they are getting wrong that are infuriating me.

We need as many people as possible voting and the results sending to Cummins. These people are ruining fans enjoyment by their lack of consistency and bizarre interpretation of the rules.

should we then adopt the 2 referee system that the nrl do?

this is true, here is a photo of him in the tunnel at half time

should we not ave a box for or are we just moaning barstewards and we need to get a life

I thnk the problem isn't inconsistancy as such but different interpretations. To use an example already used Elima gets sin binned for dissent Sam Tomkins doesn't. I didn't see the Elima one so f he he wasn't in an aggresive manner and he got binned but Tomkins didn't (I presume t was the Good Friday match) two different officials two different interpretations. If it was Thaler or Bentham for them both then fair enough.

I thnk Alibert is unfortunate it may be simple rules but also is missed knock ons, forward passes and many more worse incidents. If there were no tries on the 7th tackles would we still be talking about it? Or how many 7 tackle sets happen during the season?

Mistakes by officials deserve a suspension, Gansen not noticng Briers was offside for the interception try against Wigan. Didn't use the VR try given, match changing decision and could be one that decides the season. Is that any worse than Aliberts?

We could do wth two offcials, after watching the Ozzie players they have mstered the dark arts and know more tricks and I believe that is from two officials. Two officials would have spotted that Briers interception try among other things going on.

Isn't it also time the touchjudges grew some balls. Some of the things they miss are so obvious and yet they take no action. I would say their job, in relation to the referee's, is relatively simple and yet they seem incapable of making any sort of decision.

I'd just point out the touch judges are in contact with the ref over the radio link so they don't always have to raise their flag to draw his attention to something. It does make it look like they aren't doing anything but the decision is always down to the ref.
IIRC they also don't have the authority to call forward passes (some ruling to do with the hands of the passer) so they really are on a loser with that one.

They never improved since they became full time referee's, back to part time IMO for the lot of them!

Touch judges that can keep up with the play of the ball would help sort out forward passes.

Too many teams are also 'off side' at the play of the ball, why do they not see this?

TJ's are asked to stand on the 10m to monitor onside/offside to allow the ref's to monitor the PTB. As has been stated the TJs are miked up with the ref, and if they call a player offside and the ref ignores them there is nothing they can do about it other than keep calling players off and hope the ref takes notice. They are not allowed to enter the field or flag for players offside at the PTB.

Let me get this right. A TJ is supposed to stand in line with the defending team to monitor offside, the other TJ is in line with the PTB. A ref stands with the defending team. A touch judge can call any offence but the referee can choose to ignore it or call it if he chooses so. Is this right?

The TJs are under instruction from the referee, whatever they call, he still decides whether to ignore them or not. In the past I've received instructions that include:

"anything you see, come on and I'll back you up" - A very dangerous statement to make, simply because I've experienced some TJs who want nothing less than to referee from the touchline.

to

"Right, this game's on telly, so all I want you to do is mark touch and signal goal kicks" - This led to me starting to get changed again and it was only the intervention of the Controller of Referees that stopped me leaving the dressing room and driving home.

I officiated before the era of mic'ing up officials (thankully, they'd have needed to bleep half of my instructions during a game) and the only chance a TJ had of informing a ref of players constantly creeping offside, would be at a stoppage in play. If I was in the middle, I'd tell my TJs that I would usually back them up but if I considered I had a better view of an incident, I may override them. It's all about working as a team, unfortunately there were and still are, some referees whose ego appears to be far bigger than the game.

I've not bothered voting in the poll because this really is yet another pointless thread. Apart from offering an opportunity to some armchair officials to have a bitch & moan, what do you expect it to achieve? Fans have bitched and moaned about officials since the game started. We now have younger and fitter referees than we have ever seen in the past. If a player intercepts and goes the length of the field, usually the closest person on the field to him will be the referee. The speed of the game, at most levels has increased. When any official moves up a grade, it does take some time to get used to the changes and to think that bit quicker. No one would expect a Championship player to step up to Superleague and perform at the top level immediately, so why would they expect a referee to do so?

A couple of developments I would like to see are:

1) Stop using Grade 1 referees to run touchlines: they are completely different disciplines and a TJ and referee are looking at different aspects of the game.

2) Wherever possible, utilise the referee and TJs as a team and keep them together for as many matches as is practical. This offers them an opportunity to develop a bond and should help iron out many idiosyncracies, if nothing else, it would be easier to spot any consistent failings and work to rectify them.

I'm not saying that everything is fine and no improvements can be made. Some refs are more keen on patrolling certain aspects of the game than others, just as some players prefer to pass one way or step off one particular foot. We are dealing with human beings here and as long as that is the case, there will be anomalies. There's also the situation where players attempt to break a referee's concentration, I been asked if I've booked my holidays yet by an "old head", whose sole intention was to break my concentration on the game.

Of course it is a simple matter to count up to six tackles but that's not all a referee is doing, he's got many more things his brain has to compute at the same time, all usually done at full-speed and in real-time, without the benefit of instant replays from numerous angles, let alone the "expert" views of clueless commentators and speccies.

I think this paragraph sums up my thoughts really. A lot of people will complain about consistancy but if the same/similar incident happens as long as the SAME referee gives the same decission I'm happy with that. An example would be dummy runners, Wigan v Leeds this season Wigan had a try ruled out for a dummy runner by Smith, Ganson gave a try in the Saints v Dragons game for a very similar situation for both of these I am happy with the decission as it was two different refs. If it was the same ref then I'd have a different opinion.

If we were to have consistancy from all officials they will need to blow up for every thing. And I mean everything, such as incorrect play the ball, a defening player offside even though he may be on the otherside of the pitch at the play the ball and all sorts of fiddly technicalities of the sport. If it was to go down that route we would be a lot closer to RU than what somemost/all people on here would like.

Another development that could be trialled is positioning the 4th official in the stands, with a similar viewpoint to the team coaches. If he was mic'ed up, he could also let the active officials know of any consistent infringements. After all, watching the game at pitch level is far different to an aerial view, that's why club coaches sit up in the gods

Perhaps Thaler will be given a ban for allowing a try which was clearly 6in short