merged Ben Thaler Thread

[stevethegas]

Oh dear oh dear, we lose a match because we don't play well enough and the opposition play out of their skins, and of course it's all doom and gloom.

But we're all human and if I had someone in my ear all the time over decisions and interpretations I'm not sure I'd be prepared to give the benefit of doubt to the complainant. So while I don't think everything was right with the refereeing, I have to agree with Shaun Wane on this. "We have to take the referee out of the equation. . . "

Yes of course I recognise that by definition it's the referee's fault (or the RFL, or the moon's in the wrong quarter, or whatever).
It wasn't our day, so just get over it guys.

[ancientnloyal]

Accidental knock on by McGuire eh? Like Mike said how many are intentional?

Next game we are allowed to keep Charnley on the opposition 10m line and keep kicking up to him for the tries. It's in the rules somewhere, or on a RFL Ref's memo.

[josie andrews]

I saw a piece from Jon Wilkin to Martyn Sadler, where he said "Good game but the refereeing was bad".

Or words to that effect

[georgeorwell]

I swore I wouldn't read any more about the game, but as my blood is at boiling point it couldn't get any worse; so I did. Quite rightly all the anger has been directed at Thaler and his disgraceful performance, and there has been a lot of comment about second ref's etc. My question is "why do we have linesmen in this sport?" They seldom seem to flag up to the ref, and when was the last time you saw one actually carry on flagging to get the refs attention. Even footy linesmen have more impact in a game.
I don't buy into all this paranoid nonsense about the RFL being anti Wigan and telling the ref's they have to ref against us, but I do believe that the standard of refereeing is abysmal. Ours is a minority sport, constantly trying to get more exposure to the sporting public at large, and when we have a showpiece event being shown on BBC at peak viewing time, it is screwed by an official. It's enough to make a grown man cry. The players, who put their bodies on the line week in and week out, and the fans deserve much better. I detest Leeds, probably to an unhealthy degree, but they were so much better than us on the day, and yet we can't even give them grudging praise, due to a great sense of injustice over the reffing.
I'm seriously starting to wonder if I want to keep being put into these situations; is it really worth getting so worked up and angry? I guess it probably is but bloody hell............

[markill]

Thaler had a shocker - I expect him to get given one of the finals this year. Not because of a conspiracy against Wigan, but because poor refereeing isn't punished adequately by the RFL and because they don't have enough top grade referees to start demoting them.

But Thaler did not cost us the game. Every mistake he made was at a time we were already behind. We were already behind because we made errors in our own 20 early doors, our line speed was poorer than Leeds and their kicking game was far better than ours because their forwards won the battle up front. Our backs didn't help our forwards by dropping the ball near our own line. Leeds didn't make these errors. Thaler didn't make wrong calls for these errors.

[cpwigan]

I would surmise Wane / Harris / IL etc etc were far less happy with the officiating privately than the official response rhetoric. However, we can and need to be good enough to counteract poor match official decisions. The annoyance is that as bad as we were, Leeds were still not that much better. Two poor teams made for an absorbing match.

I cannot see past Wire at Wembley.

Accepting we have only ourselves to blame does not or should not dismiss the fact match officiating in Britain is very poor and simply not good enough.

Wigan need to be a lot better but match officiating similarly needs to be far better.

[phild1]

a below par wigan scored 28 points, having said that we did'nt deserve to win.to see sam make those schoolboy errors,i would make him watch the video over afew times especially where he was flapping his arms about and pleading with the ref, he could have taken his man then plead with th ref it would'nt have done him much good!never mind sam you were'nt on you'r own.wigan did'nt have a play maker on the park,BY THE WAY BEN THEY ARE DOING A GOOD DEAL AT SPEC SAVE.good for you iestyn for not putting blame on dare i say it REF..

[i'm spartacus]

Hate to say it but wasnt Limas try at wembley a forward pass and got away with it.

2 wrongs dont make it right but lets not forget that game was for the trophy and we didnt complain.

Its yesterdays news and todays chip wrappers.

Take Lima's try out of the equasion though and Wigan still win the game. Take three scores resulting from dubious calls out of Leeds performance on Saturday and the outcome is a lot different.

Don't get me wrong, Leeds had most of the ball and most of the territory and we were far too slow out of the blocks, but does that necessarily mean that they should win the game. We played Warrington at home this season and we dominated large parts of the game but still lost, so dominance in some aspects of the game is not always indicative of a winning performance.

The chairman has said on the radio that the cup loss will cost the club about £250k and for me that is the real cost of inept officiating. There are going to be mistakes, and sometimes the mistakes are going to be bad. Multiple mistakes in the same game can result in considerable cost to those on the receiving end.

Let's remember that the coach and the chairman cannot openly criticise the official without there being some repurcussion. I don't for one minute believe that they wouldn't put the boot in if they could do so with impunity. It isn't fair that officials can make mistakes that have serious consequences, and are then immune from being hauled over the coals for not meeting the standards required of professional referee. Also let's not forget that Thaler had the means to check the proceedings through the video referee; he chose not to do that, instead he relied on his own analysis which was just plain wrong.

[Matthew]

Hate to say it but wasnt Limas try at wembley a forward pass and got away with it.

2 wrongs dont make it right but lets not forget that game was for the trophy and we didnt complain.

Its yesterdays news and todays chip wrappers.

And the whinoes try that started their fight back came from a play of the ball where pug faced ablett was led on the floor. Being human - referees are bound to make the odd mistake; however they should balance up over the course of the match.

That didn't happen on Saturday bent haler as he shall henceforth be known had a performance as bad as any I have seen in recent times (and let's face it; most of the referees are utter rubbish in RL).

The only option open to the fans is to do what we did to Ganson and get on their backs with a few truthful songs and making it known what we think of their decisions. Wire do it very effectively at every game they play.

Wigan were poor on Saturday - however the two tries that were effectively given to the whinoes by bent's inability to do his job effectively decided the match.

[nellywelly]

Sadly if you do not play well you allow officiating to become a factor. Only Ben Thaler will know whether or not he was incompetent or corrupt. The McGuire knock on to not even go to the VR suggests the latter.

However, our poor display ultimately gave Thaler / RFL their opportunity.

I have to agree though it hurts to admit it !! Leeds were the beter team but the most crucial try for leeds was when McGuire knocked on and every one saw it besides the ref. Chalk that one off and I am sure we would have come close to winning it. Also I have seen many a televised game where the vidio ref speaks to the ref over the radio and gets him to consult to a vidio replay, this of course did not happen but if it had been our try I am sure he would have spoke to the ref