Chris22

I think standards of refereeing are largely similar to how they have always been. I haven't noticed a great deal of improvement or decline over the years.

I only heard this mentioned in commentary of the Catalans v Leigh game last week so took it at face value. Looking a bit deeper, I've seen this article saying Trout will be in the next squad. And then there's this on the RFL website but not sure how up to date it is.

Walters is a fair shout. Haven't seen enough of Trout to make a judgement but Wane did call him up to the training squad, so he must be in consideration.

Because they're the best props we have, in my view, and we need props on the bench.

Assuming all are fit, I'd be tempted by this. Welsby Marshall Farnworth Wardle Burgess Lewis Smith McMeeken Litten Thompson Pearce-Paul Nsemba Radley Havard Lees Knowles O' Neill I know Wiliams is captain and Wane won't leave him out but I couldn't do anything that put Lewis at 6 (I hope Lewis isn't on the bench as that is a waste of a spot. He starts at 6 or nothing for me). We have good options on the wing, centre and backrow. Hooker and prop are problem position. I don't think Havard and Lees are up to it against the Aussies.

Back to the point of the thread, Hull KR, Wigan, Leigh and Leeds look secure to me. Before the weekend I thought Saints and Warrington. I'm now less sure about Warrington as a gap is opening up. I'd now say Wakefield for that last spot but things can change, especially if Warrington get their act together because they have a lot of winnable games.

Our win on Friday was very significant. If we beat Salford, Castleford (x2) and Huddersfield as you would expect, I think we only need 2 or 3 more wins from the other 8 to guarantee a play off spot (from Leeds, Hull FC twice, Leigh twice, Wakefield, Wigan and Hull KR).

I'm sure I've seen the opposite. Will try and find an example.

If you do it at the play the ball the referee would say no advantage and award a penalty. Agreed if the ball is clear of the ruck though.

I did see the incident and it was as described. Walmsley took the ball up and lost it, Salford picked it up. We (Saints) held the Salford player down and a set restart was given. We continued to hold down and a penalty was awarded. We then challenged the call of a knock on against Walmsley, successfully, and were awarded a penalty. Effectively, Saints gamed the system. James Vella said if the challenge was unsuccessful, then it was a professional foul, implying a Saints player would have been sin binned. We must have been very sure if it was a ball steal to take such a chance. I'm surprised more teams don't knock on after being given a set restart to give them the option of kicking a penalty.

The idea in theory sounds ok. But in practice, you can just see a situation where arm waving would be penalised on some occasions but not others, leading to cries of inconsistency. I'm more in favour of letting referees use their discretion, which should make the sport easier to officiate.

Given this is being reported by several sources and the announcement is imminent, it sounds legitimate. Wonderful and long overdue recognition!

A tough choice but I'd say Sean Long for Saints. So many clutch moments. The kicks to win the 1999 and 2002 Grand Finals, three Lance Todd trophies - a proper big game player. Agree with other mentions of Sculthorpe, Newlove and Coote. I wouldn't put Lyon in there. As incredible as he was, the fact he was only here for 2 years and I think 2006 would have happened even if he wasn't here means I wouldn't class him as our greatest signing. There's a very strong argument for Coote too. In the years before he arrived, we were nearly men. When he arrived, he brought that defensive steel, killer cut out ball and kicking option that, in my view, was central to our 2019-2022 dominance. Not as flashy as others but without Coote, I don't think that dominance happens. I've only been watching in Super League era so just based on what I have seen.

Another point to remember is that in sport not everyone can succeed. All of the points mentioned in this thread are valid but as one club rises up a league, another one will fall. It's the nature of sport All of the community engagement and off field investment is great but there is always a ceiling without a successful team on the field (or at least relatively successful). Now the hope would be all clubs raise their standards and we get a better product but the reality is out financial instability means as some clubs rise, others face financial hardship and fall down.

Watched it again. Did Hiku ground the ball before Lindop's torso?

The aim of sport is to score more points than your opponents. If you don't do that, you cannot claim to be the better team. The better team is the one who scores the most points in my view. It's black and white. Even as a Saints fan who wanted HKR to win, I feel sorry for Lindop. A young player who made an error at a crucial time. But a lot more experienced players would have done the same as him and tried to knock it dead. The torso point is an interesting one that I never recall seeing in action. It doesn't feel right to say that try should be disallowed for a torso grounding, but I appreciate the role of referees is to apply the laws. I genuinely don't know what the law is in these circumstances. Big credit to Mikey Lewis. A massive kick under the greatest of pressure, and he's not a natural kicker. Well done to him. And congratulations to Hull KR. Pleased for their fans who have waited a long time for this.

There is no advantage to a referee not going to the video ref if there is even the slightest amount of uncertainty. Very few will praise a ref if they make a judgement call on a close decision and get it right. Everyone will criticise if they did the same and got it wrong. Same for video refs. What do they gain by being quicker? If they are quicker, they won't get any praise for it but are more likely to get decisions wrong. I wouldn't mind getting rid of video referees apart from 1 captain's challenge per game but accept that means more decisions will be incorrect as a result. For me, a less stop start product is more important that a correct decision but I think the majority feel the opposite, hence our current system.

Always surprised by the lack of mention Joe Burgess gets for an England call up. Solid under a high ball, a physical presence, good finisher.

We were pretty awful again and deserved to lose. Wellens is increasingly coming across as trying something and hoping it works rather than there being any method behind it. Though Wellens made a good point about the Murphy yellow card. A few weeks ago, I think George Williams knocked Jake Wingfield out and put him out of action for 3 weeks and we were told it wasn't a penalty as it was accidental. Now, Murphy's is a penalty and a yellow card. We had a consistent approach last year but this year it feels messy. The incidents in Leeds v Hull KR last week being perfect examples.

Williams has been the difference the last two times we have played each other so we at least stand a better chance due to his injury. Saying that, we have lost our last 14 against last year's top six (excluding Salford) so I wouldn't say I'm confident!

I dread to think what Wigan are going to do to whichever poor ###### we choose to play at left centre this week! The big call for Wellens is what he does with the spine. Whitby is very young but on last week's evidence is the best kicker at the club. We cannot go into this match without a kicking game as we have for most of this year. Saying that, I don't think Wellens drops Lomax, so Whitby will be on the bench at best. Ultimately, I can't see us being good enough to touch Wigan so maybe it's a moot point anyway!

It's nice to have depth in the half backs, something we haven't had for a while. If we can get a full strength side out, our 1-7 looks as good as it has done for ages. Interestingly, I am more worried about the pack, particularly at hooker. A bit of a role reversal from recent years where the pack has been our strength.

From a purely selfish perspective, I hope the RFL are holding back some Everton tickets for general sale. I didn't sign up for pre sale thinking this is Rugby League and there is no need. Maybe I have been burned but wonderful news for the game if so because it will encourage more to buy early in future (me included!) If it does sell out, looks like I'll head to the Wembley test instead, which is hardly a bad back up option!

Still shaking my head at that decision not to kick an easy penalty only to go and immediately concede at the other end. It's not like we are exceptional at scoring points and we turn down easy points in this wind. Terrible captaincy from Lomax not to take control and make sure we kicked.