What I struggle with is that there have been numerous occasions this year where players have obstructed quick restarts, thrown balls away when a penalty is awarded and yet Mr Thaler deems it necessary to sin bin a player when he like many other (probably all) referees have not all through the year. I have a lot of respect for referees but I'd have a hell of a lot more if they were consistent in their decisions or took time to explain them.

but throwing the ball away after a penalty is not a sin-bin under the instructions they have to work with, its warning or time off as you can't take a quick tap on a penalty (only on the 20 metre restarts if the ref and your own team are in place)

Fair enough but given the ref wasn't ready (he was running back to the 30 metre line) I still struggle to see how he was sin binned, I'm not saying JJ didn't offend as clearly he did but there's just no consistency in the decisions.

Simple, tj can report it in the earpiece, referee gets told player x has interfered and then he sinbins someone. It usually has to be blatent interference i.e knocking the ball away, if its someone running in the way, its harder to judge as players dont have to run back to the 20 before they get back into their usual positon

Thaler may well have been set by the time the ball got to be tapped, the point is the Crusaders player interefered with the Huddersfield player who was trying to get the ball back into play.



It was a professional foul that for all the times its been let slide this season, has also been penalised this season too.



Moreover Thalers hand was tipped as the Touch Judge actually came onto the field with his flag up.

People post on here complaining abouy my defence of match officials and also about consistancy.



You really are expecting too much.



It dosn't happen with the players, coaches, supporteres etc so why demand the same from the match officials.



It's like saying that if, as Chris Riley did, you score 5 tries in the first match of the season, then you must do the same in all the matches you play in. Then that would be consistant.



It isn't going to happen and no one realistically expects it to , but when it comes to match officials it's the same old cry of demanding something that isn't there.

That's consistency of quality of performance. Been plenty of that from match officials this season, not all of it good.



The issue is consistency in applying the laws of the game and their current interpretations.



Either interfering with a quick 20m restart is a sin binning in all cases, or it isn't. Same with the ball carrier running behind a team mate without a defender being impeded, it's either a penalty in all cases or it isn't.



When fans see identical incidents being adjudicated on differently they start to wonder whether it's a one-off error of judgement or a question of competence.



The most obvious area this season has been the video referee interpretations of what constitutes grounding the ball/double movement and what doesn't, which seems to change from game to game and official to official.

And lets not compare kicking a player on the floor to standing on one eh

Why not, fans are comparing holding down in the tackle with a deliverate delay of a 20m restart and claiming they are exactly the same thing and then complaining about a lack of consistency. I'm sure the irony of such claims goes right over their heads.



As for the "professional foul" claims, there is no such thing. It is a phrase that comes from commentators who don't know any better.

Fans are also complaining that in the vast majority of cases referees turn a blind eye to interfering with a 20m restart and that suddenly deciding to sinbin for it in a playoff game, even if that is technically the correct ruling, is inconsistent. Yet strangely the people who consistently defend refereeing inconsistency don't want to touch this point with a barge pole, I wonder if the irony of this goes right over their heads?

Its because there isnt a massive issue on the 20 metres from what I have seen over the year and whenever a player has deliberately batted the ball down he has been punished. If a player has got in the way when genuinely looking to get back in position then that is not a sin binning. Nameone time a player has batted the ball down on a 20 metre restart and got away with it

Who on these forums defends referees inconsistency?