Agreed - and it's very definitely coached; observe Sam Tomkins, who is a master of the dark art of milking a penalty - regardless of what position he ends up in when tackled, he always thrashes around like he's having a fit, in the hope of creating the impression that he's being impeded. He also added the extra incentive to the ref, of trapping an arm or leg with one of his own, to prevent the tackler from getting up. It's grubby and infuriating - but it works.

I agree with all the penalty comments on here yet I'm still shaking my head about Mika ripping the ball out blatantly on the last tackle within penalty range with a couple of minutes left. Scruton looked less than impressed

Having seen all our games this year and also a good amount of other televised games, i honestly dont think our discipline is any worse than any other super league side.



One other thing about penalties I will say is that listening to Phil Clarke he seems to like his match stats and often says those sides that concede more penalties and have a lower completion rate are those likely to be at the bottom of the league. I would agree with this.



Leeds are bottom of the league but yet have conceded the 2nd least amount of penalties

Marginal penalties for either side are also going to raise issues. Think we gave away three obvious 100% crazy ones yesterday.



Kirmonds head shot on last tackle of set that led to Catalans 2nd try.

Sio 2nd leg lift tackle.

Simons ball strip.



These leave you scratching your head and wondering what goes through the players minds.

Nothing - that is the answer by the way

Simons ball steal was so dumb. I was fuming - well, until Miller got him out of it minutes later

Pat Richrds crap goal kicking got him out of it and Annakin being alert enough to take the rebound.

Very true. Any of the 3 got him out of it really, he was bloody lucky though!

Personally, I think Pelissier should have got ten minutes for faking injury, or at the very least made to go off for a compulsory concussion check. Kirmond reached out but there was minimal contact with him, but he faked immediate concussion in a way that I haven't seen since the last time someone brushed past Danny Maguire. If he'd reacted to the contact he actually had, as opposed to going immediately limp, with eyes closed, I'm not even sure a penalty would have been given. They scored from the next set.



Pelissier is one of the most irritating players in Super League. Would love to see him in a Wakefield shirt.

Yet again dave Taylor lifted someone's legs in the tackle, wonder if something will be done about it this time?

No.

The problem with the lifting is that it's the alternative to attacking the legs for the third man, both equally bad. It seems like the choice for the third man is to break a leg or break a neck. Perhaps nothing below the waist for the third man is the answer.

The technique should be to clamp the legs together. They will just stop moving then and be taken down.



Third men who hit the legs rather than clamping them risk injuring the player. Those that drive down when they hit the leg, pretty much guarantee injuring the player.

Lifting for me is not so bad as long at they are managed down. Lifting with no control risks serious injury.

Agree, don't believe he made contact at all. But in the lead up to the resulting try, (2nd, Cat try) a Catalan player runs straight at Hall and takes him out, so hard and direct Hall had to tackle him as part of his defence. Should have been no try, obstruction.

Next time we play take note of who makes an attempt to get up out of our side and the only one I see do it is Miller when he has been tackled the rest appear to just wait until the opposition get off them

When we play away from home and are placed behind the sticks where we don't see forward passes, offsides and knock ons as well as the home fans.

When we play at home we choose to go behind the sticks and benefit the away fans with a better view of what is happening, allowing them to 'help' the referee.

So the home advantage thing does not apply for us. Our share of 50:50 decisions just doesn't happen.

I'm not too sure about that tbh. Look at the much vaunted Rhinos home record this season - even with their noisy side stand.



In terms of penalties, it's only really the offsides but if the ref pinged every single offside, RL games would become very dull, very quickly. I trust them in the main to ensure that neither team has an advantage over another with offsides tbh.

Sorry to disagree.....but the number of times the sky team commented o how we were unlucky to be penalised or unfortunate not to get a penalty in the game yesterday speaks for itself. E.g. Carney holding down about 30 seconds before Simon's stupid strip,2 blatant strips by Catalan not penalised,their try that was a knock on, tackling Matty without the ball,Taylor not square and dumping bjb in the in goal(then again he could standard he wanted all game). just a few I can think of off the top of my head. You go on thinking there is no agenda against us but how often do you think the 6th placed team would be the most penalised, I would say it was usually a team near the bottom......where the rfl would like us to be

This ^



I suppose there is that skillset, at worst its cheating, more likely its seen as pushing the envelope, the e at tpotb the cats got away with in this game was diabolical, but it is clearly coached and practiced.

On the other hand, it all expends energy, I think that was evident in the second half when the cats, still rolling about in a pile were less effective, and looked a bit gassed at times.

Just talking about tpotb, with ball in hand I kinda feel Wakey have a different approach that conserves energy in that they don't roll about on the floor trying to make it appear they are trying to get up, unless the set has momentum.

So they don't get their milked penalties, but instead save effort for later in the game.....its a slow burn but allows them to maintain consistent performance for longer.

I'm not saying they do that every game but against the cats it was one of the few tactics available to them likely to impact on the outcome, they're a big skillful bunch les cats so a game plan targeting a possible weakness is essential prep.......[itips hat to Chester[/i

wotsupcas I agree with most of what you say. However as far as the David Taylor incident he looked square to me and still does each time I watch it. It was a darn good tackle with quick reactions as far as I'm concerned, even in red, white and blue tinted glasses.

I agree - he was square and just reacted more quickly; deceptive for a big lad.

Taylor may have been square but the second marker was stood alongside him. BJB could go right to milk the penalty that never comes to Wakefield or left into Taylor who was on him before he collected the ball. I am sure we would have been penalised if the roles were reversed.



The other thing becoming more prevalent is being penalised when players dummy the play the ball which I understood to also be an offence.



Definitely time for 2 referees as the current shower are incapable of officiating to a sufficiently high standard on their own and I'm absolutely sure it is time to scrap the video ref entirely.

Sorry I disagree. Penalty 99 times out of 100. If we had done it penalty definitely. Stupid penalties are only stupid if they get given and that is the problem....other teams commit stupid offences against us that are not given. Taylor was pulled for a ridiculous offside in the second half and then did exactly the same from the tap....not given.. Stupid , but not given.

I guess the fact that we see things differently illustrates the difficulty of refereeing a game with consistency - although they are paid to do it, so you'd hope at least for a more uniform interpretation of the rules.



I've been saying for several years that the game has got away from referees - coaches have become so adept at twisting and bending the rules, particularly around the ruck, that the sport is becoming painful to watch at times; when the contest is based on who can slow down the ruck or milk penalties, you know there's something up.



I would suggest, as I do every year, that the RFL, referees and coaches need to get together over the off-season to thrash out exactly how these crucial elements of the game will be refereed; make it very clear to coaches what is, and isn't, acceptable, then penalise the bejesus out of teams at the start of the season until they get the message. Back to back penalties and the odd sin-binning would educate them very quickly.

I agree with your sentiment here. I would like the same BUT with so much money at stake and the desperation not to be in the middle 8's I feel that coaches and players will always try to find ways to get an advantage, legal or otherwise. Managers want to keep their jobs, chairmen want to keep crowds coming, fans want their team near the top etc. etc. I'm not sure how we get rid of it. Certainly your ideas would be a start.