!00% agree, Talau been a complete waste of money for us over the last 2 years, dont suppose he came cheap either, could have probably got a good prop + a decent centre for what he has cost the club, whats he played for us maybe a dozen games this season & not that many last season, but its the chance you take when a club signs them.

Didnt like Talau when we first signed him, it's in the forwards where you need an older wise head not the backs, you just need speed and power which granted he had when at Saints but he was on the wane the season before we signed him.
Little change of tack but when we played Leeds the other week that Delaney looked a class act, that's the type of centre we need.

True, the only good thing I can think about Talau is the match saving tackle was it against Hull Fc earlier this season, or was that Fitzy? Hes had his good games but hes certainly had way to many bad ones and hes also missed to many.

i was thinking, out of our squad who will probably be leaving us at the end of the season?

fitz, littler, alker (coaching), swain, lulu, talau, sibbit, j.smith? no wonder there is no effort?

You could probably add a couple more to that list as well.

TUESDAY 3/8/10

[iSalford City Reds’ Jeremy Smith has been fined £300 and handed a one-match ban following his dismissal for using foul and abusive language to referee Ben Thaler during the 60-16 Engage Super League defeat by Crusaders RL.[/i

just for telling Thaler he made another mistake.

I don't think I need to add anything regarding the performance, the score speaks for itself, however..

As for the ref, I know it's easy to have a pop at him when you've been beaten, but he was horrible, that first try they scored coming off Cashmere kicking out in the tackle, he was trying to regain his feet and they we're trying to slow him down (Which in a penalty to us) and he’s caught someone with the boot, I'm sorry that happens in every tackle in every match. We had a perfectly good try (and it was a good'un) scratched off and I'm still not sure why? Then the Smith sending off, the ref made the wrong decision from a Crusaders knock-on Smith gave him a mouthful, now I agree you can't do that…. that is unless you play for a big club, on Saturday night when you get to witness James Graham's abuse of the ref like nobody I've seen before, then later in the match he was clearly heard telling the ref to get out of the f****** way and still nothing, how many times do, Briers, McGuire et al get away with it?

However as bad as the ref was we were 100x worse (or more)

For the record, over the past two seasons we've had Thaler 8 times and we've managed one win! Is he the worse ref we get? Well it depends how you look at things.

When it comes to dissent the reaction is very much a personal one, no matter how much the authorities try to engineer referees into replicants. Dissent and personal abuse calls are perhaps the last bastion of refereeing as the individual i.e. depending on which referee you get, the reaction will be different. Ian Smith, for example, may have let it slide; he may not have. However, could you imagine what Karl Kirkpatrick's reaction would have been?

Oh I agree don't get me wrong for me its one of the main things that needs to be stamped out of the game, but we need a level playing field.


Sent the team off?



Now there was a ref that really didn't like us (and I believe he may have once at least admitted to it)

Anyone (who I've not told this to) want to have a guess at which ref in the last two years we've had the best win ration with?

Ganson

I'd hazard a guess at Ian Smith...?

The thing is I don't think you can achieve a level playing field with something like dissent or verbal abuse. Some people just have thicker skins than others.

Have to disagree.

Smith thoroughly deserved his sending off for verbally abusing an official, regardless of how bad the referee was.

The players' respect for officials is something our game should be proud of and must maintain.

Other players (eg. Sinfield, Graham et al) getting away with it in other games doesn't justify it.

Smith should apologise (to the ref and his team-mates), take his punishment and learn a lesson.

Nope.

Nope.

Alibert.

I don't doubt that, but lets just make it one rule if you're not the captain or the player in question and you talk to the Ref then or if foul and abusive language is used, you'll get 10 minutes in the bin and then let the RFL decide the punishment on Tuesday evenings.

Grab yourself a lolly-pop, that's the gezzer.

Best ref in SL at present, according to a thread elsewhere on RLFans that I read recently.
(but I wouldn't necessary expect James Rowley to agree?!

)

[Double post

I just reckon some referees would, on occasion, still let it slide. Then there's also the issue of words that aren't strictly foul nor abusive but are deeply damaging to the integrity of referees: such as [icheat[/i. It's a difficult issue to get a consistent, uniform method of dealing with.

I reckon some of the French players and (Welsh) could get away with murder when it comes to dissent, we don't know what Smith said, one mans foul and abusive language is another mans Shakespeare. Some of the students I work with use the F word in normal conversation, it is used in their homes and as such it is part of their vocabulary no matter how many times we pull them up for it.

Worst referee ever, still hate him with a passion, one of the happiest days of my life when it was announced he was retiring and couldnt penalise us to death anymore so many matches he ruined our chances in because he got personal and didnt give us a fair crack.

I believe Steve Blakeley would agree with you.

Up against Russell Smith & the Connolly bros, that's some statement



[url=http://www.sportingintelligence.com/2010/07/29/revealed-biased-rugby-referees-in-both-codes-hand-big-advantage-to-own-countries-290702/biased refs in Cambridge study[/url