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There's loads of things that the refs are hit and miss on. Sometimes you'll get a penalty and sometimes you won't for the exact same thing in the same match. The refs make a lot of bad calls and seeing as there are 2 linemen and a ref it's very annoying.

The Speculator wrote:

I am sick of seeing referees giving penalties (often against Wire!) when they call 'held' and the player is then dragged into touch, or into the in-goal area. In nearly all the instances I have seen, the tackle still appears to be in progress when 'held' is called. It's one of those rules where the punishment far outweighs the so-called crime. I don't see why they can't just have a play the ball from where 'held' was called, the same as happens when the attacking player tries to play on after 'held' is called.

Often thought this when I see a defence push a player back 10 meters, at what point is held called because you are not going to make progress if you are being pushed back as far as that. But once near a touchline the Ref is quicker to call held

Pauli Pauli done for putting his weight on the ball when regaining his feet ,Leeds did it the following set and nothing done. It happens so often in games without a penalty being given.
Incorrect ptb happens regularly & ref will only ping it when he feels like it.

[quote="ninearches"]Pauli Pauli done for putting his weight on the ball when regaining his feet ,Leeds did it the following set and nothing done. It happens so often in games without a penalty being given.
Incorrect ptb happens regularly & ref will only ping it when he feels like

Pauli Pauli had surrendered in the tackle so had to regain his feet and play the ball I dont think it's because he put his weight on the ball you could hear the ref explain it a few times,

The obstruction rule needs to be simplified

It was harsh that though given there was a Leeds player pushing on his back. Should have been a penalty for interference IMO.

The referees are inconsistent, the time it takes them to call held seems completely arbitrary at times. I agree with the push out resulting in a penalty its a joke if he shouts held whilst they're near the line then it should just be a re set and carry on or a turnover if on the 5th.

I think the penalty for helping yourself to your feet with the ball was brought in about 2017. What i find most annoying with many of the rules is they are implemented rigidly for the first few game then they seem to become at the ref's discretion & then so haphazard in use that it is no wonder fans criticise refereeing.

ninearches wrote:

I think the penalty for helping yourself to your feet with the ball was brought in about 2017. What i find most annoying with many of the rules is they are implemented rigidly for the first few game then they seem to become at the ref's discretion & then so haphazard in use that it is no wonder fans criticise refereeing.

I think it became harder for referees as soon as we started to hear the word interpretation banded about. We knew what a forward pass was we know what a knock on is and what a legal play the ball looks like we knew what an obstruction was the over complication of these rules is stifling the game.

Refs are on a hiding to nothing as they can blow for a penalty for or against at every play the ball! Their hardest task is to balance enforcing the laws of the game and letting it flow yet not affect the flow...its a thankless task really !!!

I'm not sure if I'm imagining this but I think I remember the league getting Karl Kirkpatrick to referee a game in the Championship (might have been the Northern Ford Premiership back then) 'to the letter of the law' to see what would happen, and he blew up for penalties every minute. The game wasn't on TV but the story of this experiment was covered in the papers.

It would be an interesting experiment if carried through across Super League. If you have a complete zero tolerance approach to enforcement, at what point do behaviours change and people start complying with the law as they realise there is no alternative?

What you would get at first is coaches still trying to get their teams to push the letter of the law, and then moaning to the media that the ref was "ruining the game", they'd say "we're in the entertainment business....the refs need to recognise its not all about them". But if neither the media nor fans would indulge them in this and said look we'll put up with it being crap for a while till you learn, we might get through to the other side.

I feel like I have had some kind of authoritarian epiphany saying that.

Agree entirely, if the rfl truly want to clean the game up at the ruck then they need to penalise those offences. Blow for every infringement and teams will soon learn there won't be any stepping off the mark or holding opposition players back and the game will be much better for it.