Salty wrote:
Well, I have been thinking about this since Saturday and was about to post my thoughts which are remarkably similar to the supporters who began this post. Shaun Wane said Hull were the 'best' (I wish he would say better)team. I don't think they were. We out scored them by 4 tries to 3, two of our tries, by Gildart and Burgess were results of some brilliant passing while Hull tries were ordinary. I think the one in the right hand corner was a result of a forward pass.
Of course Wigan could have played better but so could Hull. Just because our kicking game wasn't good doesn't mean we deserved to lose!
It's the Maguire knock on all over again. We were cheated out of the challenge cup. Plain and simple.
Okay, one decision went against Hull IF our winger's foot was on the dead ball line, but a number of decisions went against Wigan. I'm not surprised when the ref is from Leigh.
IL should complain vehemently, not echo Wane's sentiments.
I have also been thinking about this since Saturday - but also since about 2010 -2011! Some would accuse me of paranoia but back then some statistics were produced about Wigan's win ratio with certain refs. No surprise but with most refs it was 70 - 80% - I think Alibert was over 90% though!
I believe it was Bilko who gave this quite startling information and he may be able to throw more light on this:
Wigan's win ratio with Bentham as referee was under 40% - an alarming statistical discrepancy when with all the others it was over 70%. A win ratio one would expect from one of the more successful teams who were Super League champions at the time and enjoying another successful season back then.
I know he was the ref when Wigan beat Huddersfield a month ago but that was Wigan's first and only win with him as ref this season. I am pretty certain he was also the ref when Wigan lost at home to St Helens, Warrington and Widnes last season. More paranoia?
And although Thaler was the on-field ref in the Grand Final against Leeds, as I can recall the 2 VRs (there were 2 back then) were a certain Mr Bentham and Mr Child....!! Or was Child the touch judge that day? It was they who judged that McGuire didn't knock on. I actually think Thaler was unsighted - these things do happen and one cannot expect an on-field ref to spot everything, but there was absolutely no excuse for the knock on not to be given by the VR. The ball bounced off his leg after he dropped it but it was not a deliberate kick, hence a knock on according to the rules of RL.
I believe 99 out of 100 fans/sane impartial human beings who understand rugby would have judged McGuire to have knocked on. Similarly, I believe over 90% would have judged that the ball was reefed from Clubb's hand and awarded a try. The whole BBC commentary team believed so as did the Hull coach.
I do not blame Bentham for not awarding the try - you cannot expect an on field ref to spot everything, but there is no excuse for Child not to see the reef. One camera angle definitely proved this - hence the unanimity amongst the BBC experts and Radford and seemingly everyone else - apart from Hull fans, who were understandably peeved by the disallowed try for obstruction - that for me was verging more on a 50/50 call) and Wigan haters.
Momentum is crucial in rugby league and Bentham has the unfortunate habit of making bad calls against Wigan (the 2 knock ons) just after half time. Even Jonathan Davies called these! These were just as crucial in Wigan losing as it took the juice out of them!, giving Hull more possession and leading to their only try of the half. By the way, was the final pass to the winger forward? Look at his body angle. It was certainly more forward than the disallowed Tom Davies try after 5 minutes in the semi-final! Paranoia??
One can expect some 50/50 decisions to go with your team and some against you. Were these 50/50?
The McGuire knock on and Clubb reef examples though were 99/1 or 90/10 at the most. When have Wigan been the beneficiaries of such incomprehensible (and incorrect) decisions by a VR? Particularly in a crucial game such as a final. I can think of only 1 - when Manfredi was awarded a try by Hicks in a Cup game (against Cas?) a year or two ago - but that was in the last few minutes when Wigan already had a big lead.
The disallowing of the Burgess try by VR Thaler in the semi-final flew in the face of the "rules" by which VRs are supposed to work. That is why an increasing number of Wigan fans are angry. One hears about "rub of the green" - I am so looking forward to Wigan having a decision by the VR go in their favour when it is patently the wrong decision. I want to hear what the Leeds, saints or Leeds fans will then think!
Paranoia? Is their some deep-seated reason why VRs give a decision that 99% of fans would disagree with? Is it because quite a lot of this generation of refs grew up in the 80s and 90s - when as young fans of other clubs (Leigh, Warrington, St Helens, Yorkshire teams such as Leeds and Hull) they grew up sick of the sight of Wigan winning the Cup and the League year after year....?!
Wigan haters?? Paranoia??!!
Enough of the paranoia - some rational and reasoned argument now:
Hull played the better rugby most of the game and in the eyes of many deserved their win. Wigan players made 2 crucial mistakes though that probably cost them the game in the final analysis. Farrell's failure to play the ball properly (an unforgivable mistake) led to Hull's first try and then Powell's kicking out on the full in the 41st minute (a lack of skill) resulted in the start of Hull dominating possession in the first 15 minutes of the second half and were just as crucial as the howlers from Child and Bentham in all this.
