Southern Softy wrote: ↑Wed Mar 09, 2022 11:24 am
We can still win against a depleted Cats team, although it won't be easy, despite the useless and inconsistent Hicks. What more concerns me is the possibility of his causing problems to our very good disciplinary record this season, which would impact on future matches.
He can't do that, he doesn't hand out the bans.
But he can hand out yellow cards and put people on report for no very good reason and the disciplinary panel has to take note and do something about it.
But if you check the RFL's disciplinary meeting on the website this week, there were 42 SL players referred to the committee who all received "No Charge", including 6 each from Wigan and Toulouse. There were also half a dozen who got "Cautions" but no suspensions.
Of the other 6 who were suspended, Charnley was kicking out dangerously in the tackle, Hurrell has admitted he was in the wrong with his, whilst Kruise Leeming admitted live on Premier Sports TV he was at fault with his tackle.
So the process, in fairness, doesn't look to have as many faults perhaps as some fans are pointing out, with good reason for the Yellows dished out, once the panel reviews have been concluded.
First, nothing on earth would have changed the overall result but it proves to me that bad referees make for bad matches. Field's non knock-on was a classic lousy decision but all through the match, he was a poor official
Compare Kendall reffing Wire v Saints. A match that could easily have boiled over didn't because both sides may not have liked his decisions but they understood why they had been made and he was obviously in control. Result - one side got comprehensively beaten but the quality of the game was good and the discipline OK.
Hicks spent the entire match laughing and joking and it didn't work. Both sides disputed his decisions and eventually took the law into their hands. Now, both sides will probably lose more than one player in the disciplinary fallout and that will have a knock-on effect in the next few matches.
I hope he never referees us (or anyone else, for the matter) again but I'm not holding my breath and expect more grief when he does.