Would a Wigan player been sent off for the same MIO no

It's just Hicks is out of his depth. Plain and simple.

Didn't deserve that last try

Epic effort from Hull against 14 men.

Fair play to Wigan, played some stuff stuff but better team lost imo.

don't think its fixed, but some of the decisions do make you wonder

You win some, you lose some. Had some calls gone our way at Wembley and we win the cup, today we got the rub of the green.i didn't hear any hull fans bemoaning reds decisions two weeks ago, but we were classed as sore losers when we did. Swings and roundabouts, but I do agree that the standard of refereeing this past two seasons or so has been atrocious. It won't stop me from smiling tonight though

the trouble is whenever hicks gets the gig you know someting like this is going to happen. the biggest games need the best refs simple as

Aside for a little blip at the start of the second half where they looked a little I don't think there was much wrong with that performance. A referee who has been paid off and down a man for most of the game, to come that close really shows what a great team we are!

There would have been s meltdown had it been Danny Houghton on the floor cold from a Nuasaala elbow/forearm. Contact with he head from a raised arm. Doesn't matter if it's not at shoulder height, he lifts the arm as he goes into contact and hits his head.

So every high tackle should be a red card then?

No, it's not 'fixed'.

have you actually watched the incident, at most wattys was fending. but whatever

There's a rule about leading with the elbow/forearm. Mickey Mac's height doesn't come into it just like say, Rob Burrow's doesn't. The arm raised into the tackle - elbow/forearm makes contact with the head. Incidents are dealt with on a case by case basis and you know they are so don't be facetious to suit your point. We saw head high tackles in the game get penalty only - Sean O'Loughlin rightly so gets a red for a clothesline last season.

The crux of it is he switches ball carrying arms and then raises. If he uses the ball carrying arm and tucks in, theres no issue. Also if he uses an open hand there's no issue. You can't accuse Watts of raising the forearm and it simply becomes a case of unfortunate head placement. There is an element of that but you can't argue with the fact that the arm is raise. It's not a fend - a fend is with an open hand, not a bent arm raised.

I don't for a second believe Watts intended what he did and it was more of an instinctive reaction MM flying out, but as we see time and time again; there has to be a duty of care at all times to opposing players. Players are put in dangerous positions all the time and they are punished for it, two players in as many weeks were sin-binned for it. They've massively clamped down on it.

I'd certainly expect the Wigan player to be off if it was the other way round and I mean that genuinely.

A fair post, but I just can't agree. Purely accidental imo, and similar to what you say, if it was a Wigan player I wouldn't have expected them to be punished either. It wasn't premeditated, he didn't run in leading with the elbow, it was a last second reaction to a hit that he saw coming really late.

He doesn't switch ball carrying arm. Anybody who says that is chatting the biggest load of .
He catches the ball in 2 hands and then tucks it under his right arm. There is no moving the ball from under his left, to under his right.
No player in the league drives it in holding the ball in 2 hands so he has to put it somewhere! And he's not going to put it under his left cause it's a higher chance of McIlroum forcing the ball free.
The argument about the ball switches hands is a joke.

Yes. It's fixed.

Love it Wigan won. Best team got the result. Come on Lancashire.boom.

Bad tackle technique from a player that was losing his head (literally),evasive action from watts and how come a lot of current and ex players are backing watts on this call?,because a misjustice has happened that's why!,

so basically wattsy has to leave his left arm hanging limp then.

it's opinions based upon the colour of glasses your wearing which is why i said whatever, but i've seen literally dozens of players and ex players agree with my opinion so im happy with my facetious point of view.

No, it's not fixed. Does anyone seriously believe that the RFL are competent enough to fix games?

The only people I've seen agreeing with the sending off are those who've never played the game at any level. A number of pros have backed Watts on twitter.

McIlorum flew in and Watts had the awareness to adjust his feet meaning McIlorums head was on the wrong side, and collided with Watts elbow, which at the point of contact was tooked into his torso.

Fixed? No of course not. It was just a fkn dreadful decision.

No it's not fixed, can't believe any grown up would think it was.

Sums it up for me, just a bad call IMO. Don't for a second believe anything re match fixing, I think some people need to wind that back as is making us look pretty foolish.

Not fixed but the Watts call was at best 50:50 and it's the perception of the way 50:50s go that is the wider issue. It's like when Ellis gets a crusher at Wembley and nothing is done but then gets yellow and a ban for the same thing 5 days later. It's like when Rob Burrow sticks his nut on but the video ref (Hicks) keeps his mic switched off half an hour after he called out Ellis on that same mic to the referee. These are the things that understandably irk fans who pay a great deal of money to watch. The incident last night with Mahe being tackled in the first half near our line then getting a push in the face was a better example of just how poor Hicks is as a referee. He should have called held and then taken action a long time before that blew up. He is one of the worst referees I've ever seen regardless of whether Hull are playing or not. Unable to control a game and unable to get through any game without making key mistakes. The call that cost us was the clear obstruction Wigan did 10m from their own line towards the end of the match when we were winning by two. That was a clear penalty but he didn't want to give it. As ever the ones that aren't given are more costly than those that are.

Having slept on it;

This is the image Hull Daily Mail are using;


It's not as tucked in as some are implying but it's not high either. I think it boils down to the fact that it's the non ball carrying arm. He has the ball in his left arm and it's nothing but a poor read from Mickey Mac but clearly the message has gone out to the refs, dangerous contact will be punished. We've seen two yellows in two weeks for marginal crusher tackles. I still feel that if it was the other way round and a Wigan player had been sent off I'd support that decision but I can totally see why Hull fans feel somewhat agrieved. I have played the game and have been penalised for raising the forearm into contact.

Six of one, half a dozen of the other.

It isn't fixed. However Wigan, as usual, were cheating from the off an Hicks is too inept and weak to control them. I can only think of Bentham as a referee who has some idea of the nature of this bunch of grubs and they don't try it on as much with him. No wonder pie fans hate Bentham.

Watch their captain give a masterclass of grappling around the head in every tackle and how he "accidentally" manages to finish standing in the attacking sides PTB more than once. At least he got penalised at Wembley when he tried that one.

Scum of the earth are WIgan and Hicks isn't the answer to them.