Spot on. It’s the cumulative effect of several calls that all go one way. Something which Kendall has form for.

LMAO. Your final sentence has proven beyond any doubt that wiginers have no idea what they are talking about.

This is spot on for me.

I don't begrudge Saints the win. They were great at what they do. Most of those 50/50 calls went Saints way, and on review probably shouldn't have. It's hard enough playing against Saints when calls are fair or even, but almost impossible when those calls go against you when they shouldn't have. The sad thing thing was that when we eventually got decent field position we scored, and may have scored another with Lolohea if the call had gone upstairs. When we get into the opponents twenty we more often than not score or score on the back of new sets. We simply couldn't retain that position because most of the time a bad call was made when we ventured anywhere near their twenty.

Be interesting next year now that teams know how Saints play whether they can do the same again. I get the feeling this year that they have been so dominant for the first twenty minutes of both halves that games are generally already won. Whenever I've seen teams test them defensively they leak points, it's just that most teams have been blasted out of the park before anyone can try.

Anyway, congrats to Saints, and hopefully this experience will be invaluable for Salford going forward.

So it appears that the "neutrals" are in agreement the ref won the game for St Helens.

The "neutrals" that would have loaned out their wives, girlfriends, mothers, daughters and even the family pet for a Saints defeat.
Grow up, Salford were not disgraced they were beaten by the better side.

I think most are saying that it ruined any chance of the game being more closely contested, rather than change the result. I think Saints would have still won if those calls had gone the way they should have, but I'm betting it would have been a whole lot closer.

Dear me. It quite clearly was obstruction and the correct call.

I honestly can’t believe the stick that Kendall is getting. He got a couple of calls wrong- surely that happens every game. To suggest he was biased is ridiculous. Calls went both ways.
Something to give those of you moaning a bit of food for thought. The calls most are moaning about are mostly ones where players were attempting to cheat. So who really should you be having a go at? The ref- or those cheats?

You must have watched a different game...

I'm mostly having a go at the St Helens club whose disgraceful conduct the past couple of months deserves to be highlighted more than this Grand Final win.

Saints lose at Wembley. Not the refs fault.

Saints win at old Trafford. Was the refs fault.

Thankfully, unlike the jealous Wigan and Warrington fans, the Salford fans have shown their class being gracious in defeat.

Surely that is why there is a ref on the field - to ensure that both sides adhere to the rules and to do their best to sort out any "cheating".
Although there were some poor calls both ways, there were a couple at critical moments which caused a momentum shift back in Saints favour.

Saints were deserving winners and have been the best side all season, apart from resting half their squad (twice) against London.
Ashworth for Saints was a very lucky boy to stay on the field. A high shot followed with a deliberate "head butt" should have seen him off the field for 10 minutes, something which Kendall interpreted as a "natural coming together of heads", which is most definitely was not.

The majority of this thread is embarrassing. I agree Kendall didn’t have his best game but was he the reason why Saints won the game? Absolutely not, Saints were by far the best side on the night and have deservedly won the title after another excellent year. Salford have had a great year and gave it a good shot last night. I don’t understand why it’s so hard for rugby league fans to just leave it at that and accept that St Helens are deserved champions.

I also find the amount of abuse Kendall is getting quite staggering when you look at how Rob Hicks was defended after making far worse calls in the Cup Final. To summarise, the anti Saints drivel on this forum is pathetic and some people need to grow up. And no, I’m not a Saints fan either.

The Hicks abuse came from the top of the St Helens club. It wasn't more widespread than that because he had a pretty good game at Wembley. Kendall's performance last night was rather worse, unfortunately. He shouldn't be getting abuse for it because it wasn't premeditated but the St Helens club is rightly being ridiculed for its hypocrisy - and they should continue to be held accountable for their actions after the cup final.

Saints have always been a club most fans, pie eaters apart, seemed to have quite a bit of time for. If there is antipathy towards them right now it's not because they are the champions, it's because of the way they have conducted themselves the past two months.

I think you will find that no one at Saints abused Hicks, the only people to abuse Hicks and his family were from Warrington.

No death threats from Saints, so you need to re-prioritize what is really abuse.

I see there has been no action against Warrington this year for their continuing trend of violent behaviour

Pitch Brawls
Riots in the stands
Bricks thrown at coaches
Death threats


This faux bitterness is a massive deflection from fans of a club that have been let off by the RFL for some of the most reprehensible behaviour there has been in the last few years of SL.

This patterns follows an off-field altercation with Wigan players during last years final at half time.

How about taking the plank out your own eye before finding the splinter in ours.

Hicks made one (very poor) call and was panned, not by Saints coach, not by the fans but, by Saints Chairman, which was disgraceful.
Kendall is being QUESTIONED for a number of calls last but, lets keep things in perspective.
Being slated by "neutral" fans, is nothing like being called out by a club chairman who's side were beaten in a cup final and I have a question for you.
Having noted that one of his fellow refs was slated by Saints coach, do you think this may have blurred Kendall's judgement, even slightly or, affected, even slightly, how he reffed the game ?
What McManus did after Saints cup final loss was very much in the style of Alex Ferguson at Man United, who was a master at getting into the heads of the officials (and the oppositions) head.
Just for measure, I repeat that Saints were the best side and ARE worthy champions but, that doesn't mean that people shouldn't question certain things.
After all, this is a RL forum

Saints are the ones at issue because they were the ones who, as a club, heaped venom upon Hicks. I don't follow every news story which comes out of Warrington but I don't recall seeing their bosses say anything significant about referees.

Edited for accuracy and balance:-

1. Crowd Trouble at the DW Stadium

2. Players causing trouble in the tunnel.

3. Fans attacking the VIP lounge at the Catalans

4 Death threat to a referee.

5 Complaint to referee (James Child) and didn't ref Wire for the rest of the season.

6 Playing an ineligible player in the challenge cup semi final.

7. Fans attacking away fans coaches.

8. Tea + Biscuits for Robert Hicks anyone!!!

DON'T COME ON HERE AS A TROLL PREACHING AND BITCHING OTHERWISE YOU GET IT BACK TENFOLD..................RANT OVER and OUT

Congratulations on addressing none of the points made by bewareshadows. The irony of (some)Warrington fans trying to preach a morality lesson to St. Helens is off the scale. Seems a real victim culture at Warrington. Even tried to blame away fans for someone putting a brick through a coach window. Always someone else’s fault. Still I’m sure their dreadfully tacky marketing department will deflect it all, I expect they’ll have a booking ready to fly a plane over our patch soon.

Hicks made 6 (SIX) incredibly incorrect calls in the space of the first 20 minutes in favour of Warrington. These weren’t 5050s, they were just factually incorrect. The media have done a very good job in implying that McManus’ outburst was about the Knowles call (which was single handedly worse then every incorrect decision from last night combined), but just as wrong was the Grace “knock on” that blatantly hit a Warrington player first and ricocheted off Grace, which lead to the drop out which lead to Warringtons first try. I could go through all of them, but I have very deliberately avoided the whole topic for quite some time. Saints, as with the playoff game and final play by putting high pressure on their opponents and playing off the back of mistakes. For 20 minutes that day the pressure valve was let off time and again with these decisions. Of course Saints could and should have responded better, and we’re left rattled for the majority of the rest of the game and Warrington were well worth their win from there.

For those criticising Kendalls performances - I have only seen about 3 specific examples given, and I responded to 1 of them as evidencing why the correct decision was actually given (the Dudson knock on - which was the same as the LMS knock on on 79 minutes, the Inu knock on - which was just the correct decision and I’m not sure what the claim the decision should have been? And the ball steal which I absolutely accept was a wrong decision but gave an example of the ref getting something wrong the other way). Non of these decisions fall into the category above. What we’re the continuous decisions going in Saints favour to swing the match?

McManus (and others) have questioned the competency of the referees for a while. He hit the nuclear button in frustration as referees are not accountable for their actions as it currently stands, and referencing yet another incompetent reffing performance would be a simple fine and ignore situation, as so many coaches and other chairmen have experienced previously.

How this is being talked about in the context of Kendall’s performance I honestly don’t know. As fans we can sit and debate 5050s all day. It didn’t affect the result in any way and haven’t seen any argument so far to suggest otherwise.

I said at the time the timing of McManus' comments was poor. I think this thread demonstrates why it was poor timing.
Had he raised it with the RFL a few weeks later he would have got far more traction.

In fairness McManus has always been consistent on the issue as Ian Smith was dropped off the back of a complaint by him for attending a sportsmans dinner at the Huddersfield club. This was a couple of days before Saints were due to play Huddersfield.
In the aftermath of the CC cup final the obvious common sense in the point (it still surprises me any ref would have or want to have a twitter account) was lost by those who prioritise feeling over thought.
The small mindedness and petty vindictiveness has remained / returned in force after those comments by McManus, especially from victim club Warrington. Still as my mate Barry Ledger once said ‘if your name isn’t on the cup it means youve not won it...’

As has already been pointed out Warrington have double standard on this as the James Child's issue demonstates, but I would still rather McManus rose above that and raised his issues in a different manner.

When raising issues on deaf ears they remain issues...

Anyway until there’s anything more than “Salford kicked a 4020 but then they knocked it on, but despite the ref penalising Saints/LMS in exactly the same way, I wanted Salford to win so it’s all the refs fault” - the ref shouldn’t really need to be mentioned again.

Tommy Makinson playing with a dislocated shoulder for 38 minutes, Thompson playing 72 minutes like a madman, Hastings trying everything he knew, Coote joining the double winner club - how any of these are being ignored in favour of this ...

Wow. Some complete and utter juvenile nonsense being spouted on here from some Saints fans.

6 incredibly incorrect calls by Hicks in the first 20 mins? That’s just incredibly incorrect.

He only made 9 decisions in total in the first 20 mins of which only 1 was incredibly incorrect:
2 mins - Knowles No Try - should have gone to Video Ref
6 mins - Walmsley knock on
9 mins - Warrington penalty - Saints offside from last tackle kick
12 mins - Turnover - Warrington knock on challenging their own last tackle kick
15 mins - Zero tackle for Warrington - Saints knock on after inside ball from Lomax
16 mins - Percival knock on attempting you take Warrington kick
17 mins - Saints drop out - Coote knocks the ball dead
18 mins - Warrington knock on at the play the ball

It’s nonsense to say 6 of those are even incorrect let alone incredibly incorrect. The only 1 that is is the Knowles No Try and even then the decision that’s wrong was to not use the video ref. If there’d been no video ref I’d have entirely understood the No Try decision.

I’m just enjoying the BBC commentary on now where the ref has barely been mentioned. That and the clown on here who thought the Percival try was offside when it was Percival who kicked the ball. Its showed up the horrendous faux controversy.