Sadly the ability to "manipulate the officials" should not be needed ... but yeah we do seem to suffer when other teams do this.
Often when teams are coming up quickly i am screaming that we need the odd little chip over the top to just make them "think twice" about doing it... something else we seem incapable of doing

Yes "manipulate" is the wrong word but other teams push the edges of the laws and are aware how and when to do it with some players seemingly having an influence over the way a game is refereed. Are we or any of our players accused of that by opposition fans? I don't think.

They should push everything within the first 10 mins of a game to see what the refs are leaning towards most, laying on, creeping offside, I've watched Thursday's game back & the ref must have said the ball carrier who was trying to get up & ptb was trapping the defender in, complete rubbish but he was happy to keep calling it, Wigan used it to their advantage we never, if your not cheating your not thinking.

I've watched Thaler as a neutral in many games and he gets the trapped in call wrong so often it's unbelievable. Just likes to hear his own voice mostly I believe. Too quick to shout held when strong defence is dominating the tackle is another favourite of his (well sometimes anyway).

It's because he's vocally telling who's involved so they don't complain, & in his eyes he's dealing with it & keeping the game flowing, but he is wrong to do this, so if players get it in their heads to slow it down with arms & legs everywhere, the ref the following week could be very strict on this & give penalties all night, no consistency with officials, you can't win, unless you play the official to your advantage the best you can.

There needs to be more defined boundaries AND a 2nd on field official to impose it.
when you watch the likes of WArrington on tv going to a wrestling/MMA gym to learn about specific grips on layers arms etc to stop players from regaining their feet that's just deliberate cheating in my eyes...and subsequently the game has progressively gone downhill. Watching the game from even just 15 years ago and the ptb is far far better/cleaner.

as soon as the commentary stared to use phrases like "collision" and "arm wrestle" it was clear where the game was headed.