I thought that Mr Childs had a really good game on Friday, really pleased for him as he has had to withstand some serious abuse over the last few years. I though he was possibly the best ref last season and if Friday was anything to go by he is looking at another strong season. Watching the game back on TV he got most calls correct and controlled the game well.

Really enjoyed watching the Wigan v Hull match as I thought the holding down / laying on was policed perfectly by the Australian ref. Both sets of players soon realized that they were not going to get cheap penalties for holding down and just got on with the game. The ref only penalized twice for holding down and they were blatant. Players stopped throwing their arms up in the air at every play of the ball begging for a pen, players stopped diving in the tackle trying to win a penalty.

Compare this to the Leeds Hull KR match, where Ablett and Cuthbertson won penalties for been held down, tries were scored of the back of these. In both instances the correct decision would have been to penalize the Leeds players for cheating.

For me its the blight on our game, and yet when we get to big games the English refs change their style and ref like our Australian friend on Saturday morning.

It's Child. It's Child. It's Child.

He had an awful game IMHO.

And there's the rub. Anything he did well, possibly 99% of his performance, was utterly undermined by one inexplicable, yet potentially game changing moment of madness.

How he could penalise Fifita for the PTB, when you look at every other PTB from the game, is beyond comprehension. Salford scored at least one try from a PTB that was just rolled and thus catching the defense dead in the water.

Refs can make mistakes, I get that. But that PTB decision is not an area where a top of the game ref should be making such an error.

Having watched the incident, its clear the marker had his hand on Fifitas collar preventing him standing upright. Teams like Leeds and Wigan have their players drilled to immediately fall to the ground in such circumstances and milk a penalty.
I know these are sheighthouse tactics, but something we must quickly develop in order to compete at the top level.

I am with Belly I thought he reffed it pretty well IMHO.

You might want to check with Pauli Pauli. Looks like a broken nose which means that must have been a very high shot. Don't suppose Child could give that one though as he ignored several high shots throughout so that would be being inconsistent.

From where I was standing and confirmed on TV, Fafita' shirt was being pulled over his head by the marker. A clear penalty to Wakefield and outstandingly poor refereeing which could have affected the result.

Extremely difficult job to police the ruck, the job is made easier when watching replays on TV. Refs make a split second decision, not easy and they will make mistakes, one or two mistakes in a match is pretty amazing. That said I do think that they should go hard on the high shot, again they will make mistakes and some clean tackles will get penalized, rather that than giving the benefit of the doubt to the tackler.

Good game ?? I think Belly is being ironic.
What about the "soft" head high calls against us and the high shot on Johnstone that got nothing.
Child has been shocking for Trinity since he started and although you could argue that some of this is "our own fault", he couldn't wait to penalise Trinity and yet seemed almost heart broken when he finally pinged Salford.

I think perhaps it's a case of pre-conceived conceptions.

I remember chatting to Ian Smith in Perpignan once, and he commented on a couple of Wakey players who were very messy around play the ball. Brett Ferres was one. Fifita's style is a bit scruffy, because he's a big guy trying to regain his feet quickly, so perhaps he assumed it was that, whereas in this instance it was a Wakey penalty.

I do think refs get a bit starstruck. In the Leeds and Hull KR game on Thursday, Leeds got a few 50/50 calls their way, and it is always the big teams that get that. Remember the first Wigan home game last year. The ref was determined not to give a penalty in line with the sticks despite blatant holding on. It would have been a penalty had Wigan had the ball and chasing the game.

And the Leeds of the last decade have always been floppers and divers. Abblet is one of the worst. And McGuire will go flat on his back with fluttering eyes at the merest whiff of an off the ball push. It has always tainted them.

Spot on and the reason is simple, most current refs are attention seekers who deep down wish to be the star of the game and doing what he did very nearly managed it.

Sadly no he isn't