: Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:04 am
Actually Alibert tends to mark 12 metres and then won't penalise those standing in front. It was evident from the Wigan game this year. Everyone was calling 'they're standing in front of you' but they were actually 10 metres back. What people seemed to be missing was the amount of 'turtling' that the Wigan players were doing on ours. We could have had penalties on every tackle that night, and it's been a constant issue with just about every visiting team - and taken to extremes by Huddersfield. Yet the refs just let it continue.
As for Saturday I don't think anybody left the ground with anything other than contempt for the player's effort for MOST of the game - particularly at the end of each half and throughout most of the first. But had such a ludicrous surrender of position not taken place we'd have had plenty to complain about from Mr Halibut. I honestly can't fathom how people on here can point to just one mistake! Three of Salfords tries and one of ours should never have been given and will somebody sit Halibut down and explain the difference between forward and backward. The fact that BOTH sets of fans were chanting 'you don't know what you're doing' and 'cheat' suggest that several if not many of the calls he made were dodgy to say the least.
I'm happy to say the ref did not directly cost us the game. It's right the players and coaching should be held up for letting it get away. But let's not kid ourselves that, as per usual, we've been made to put up with some shoddy refereeing. Two poor sides but a poor ref too. Well worth the admission!
Consider the fact that while we were a long way from our best we nudged ahead after the break and then with the momentum looked like we might assert our superiority. Then because of some shoddy and inconsistent ref calls (at the key part of the second half) we faced four sets attacking our own line, followed by several other sets in a similar position and did not concede a point. When we then broke up field and got a highly dubious try to go 8 points up I thought we'd weathered the storm and earned our luck. It turns out I was quite wrong.
apart from the ref - if you are going to ignore off sides (for both sides) then be consistant - don't randomly pick out offsides, all or nothing - I think his gaffes were weighed evenly to both sides - it comes to something when you are worried a sorry refereeing decision might influence the outcome of a game !!!
