merged Ben Thaler Thread

[john6028]

Why don't you have 2 referees , it works very well in Oz'

[yokozuna]

Why don't you have 2 referees , it works very well in Oz'

Very much this. Removes the perception of an individual ref being biased, and also less chance of howlers such as the blatant knock on that only one person in the ground didn't see.

What exactly are the reasons we don't have two refs?

[slimshady]

Why don't you have 2 referees , it works very well in Oz'

Very much this. Removes the perception of an individual ref being biased, and also less chance of howlers such as the blatant knock on that only one person in the ground didn't see.

What exactly are the reasons we don't have two refs?

We dont have 2 refs per game because we only have enough inept refs for 1 per game

[cpwigan]

Cost / availability etc etc precludes 2 referees. Mind you two Cummings produced referees would be no better than 1, maybe worse.

One things for sure we need to give Thaler hell whenever he officiates Wigan. Re Cummings and co; the acid test will be, is he dropped from the next round. Alibert was dropped for miscounting (1 mistake), Thaler made several

[Jules]

All referees have a job to do, they make calls as they see it, and the same for each team. Every ref has bad days, and yesterday was several combined into one.
There is a fine line in going to the VR for every single decision, and not going there enough.
If Thayler was certain in what he had seen, albeit mistaken, and no call comes from eithe touch judge, you can understand him not going to the VR.

I would like to propose the following to help referees, and its hardly contraversial. As per tennis, give each team one challenge per half. Demand that the last play go to the VR even if the ref awards it. You must specify the exact nature of the challenge, ie knock on, foward pass etc.
Get it right, your get another challenge. Get it wrong, and you are once again at the mercy of the officials as per usual.
It works in tennis, so why not adopt it.
It would have chalked off at least two tries yesterday, if not three.

[Jules]

Just to be clear, as I stated take the last play to the VR, I refer only to situations where the ref has awarded a try, and the defending team disagrees.

[cpwigan]

All referees have a job to do, they make calls as they see it, and the same for each team. Every ref has bad days, and yesterday was several combined into one.
There is a fine line in going to the VR for every single decision, and not going there enough.
If Thayler was certain in what he had seen, albeit mistaken, and no call comes from eithe touch judge, you can understand him not going to the VR.

I would like to propose the following to help referees, and its hardly contraversial. As per tennis, give each team one challenge per half. Demand that the last play go to the VR even if the ref awards it. You must specify the exact nature of the challenge, ie knock on, foward pass etc.
Get it right, your get another challenge. Get it wrong, and you are once again at the mercy of the officials as per usual.
It works in tennis, so why not adopt it.
It would have chalked off at least two tries yesterday, if not three.

On that basis Jules he would be incompetent just as with the forward pass for try 1 yet he saw Wigan's forward pass, ruled a crossing obstruction etc Why did he get 1 teams decisions correct but the other teams wrong. Surely, bad refereeing should be random?

We need to get rid of arrogant officiating whereby not going to a VR is seen as great, a badge of honour somehow ABOVE making the correct decision.

At the minimum Thaler should be dropped from the next round of officiating.

1 decision I have yet to reach a conclusion is BJB cross field fumble / catch try. If the ball touched the ground before he regained control was that not a knock on.

[Jules]

Random does not equate to one bad decision per team, that is even distribution. Mistakes were made, and we took the brunt of them all.

It is clear that two teams will not go to the final after yesterday, Wigan and the team of match officials.
I would like to say that neither of those two teams deserved to progess.

Leeds crossed our line almost at will, and as such they deserve to be in the final.

[john6028]

In the NRL it is one top class Ref' with an up and coming Ref', you have lower divisions , get the lower div' Refs' in, in the NRL you sometimes have 2 senior Refs , you also have 2 Touchies' to help out.

[LORENZO]

We did have 2 referees. One watching the video. all he had to say into Thalers ear was 'knock on'.
Are the video refs instructed not to interfere in the game unless asked to do so?