Its been very noticeable this year and when he's blowing hard he does things to slow the game down.

Thought I had stumbled on the Rovers/FC board by mistake.
In years past I seem to remember a referee controller telling refs to penalise 25% of Scrums!
I think the fitness overall has improved, but there are refs who blow up when the pace increases, I think that has gone on since the year dot,nothing new here. As already stated the problem is that the refs decisions are under a lot more scrutiny,and the tweaking/chopping and changing of the rule book(done for the best intentions) ain't helpful to them. I also think the sky clowns do not help by constantly looking for controversy where there is none, just because they have nothing positive to add to the commentary. Every teams supporters can pin point decisions that have gone against their teams,but unfortunately poo happens.

Until we get robots as referees (which will mean stop start matches), we will have to put up with what we have.

football has spent millions on refereeing. yes they still make errors but they are miles better than they were 10 years ago. RL is a pub sport in comparison. they have one man who wasn't that great himself.
I will say that the last 3 games I've seen child do he's been very good. he's let the game flow. really managed it well. I hope he keeps improving.
it's a difficult job and there aren't a lot coming through.
also a referee shouldn't be dropped after making a fu*k up. players aren't.
if they make lots of bad errors or have 3 bad games in a row then yes. I moan too but fans expect refs to be perfect but if a player messes up he's only human. standards need to improve yes, we need more refs too so encourage kids to do it.
I was a decent semi pro footballer but I got into reffing by accident and it took me far higher, and to a lot of iconic grounds I was never good enough to play at

I wonder how many of the people that criticise and verbally abuse referees, have ever refereed a game themselves, or hold referring or coaching qualifications.

Bloody hell, you think this lot are $hite? Back in the day there were the likes of Mick Naughton, Stan Wall, Fred Lindop...

Truly a "good old days" scenario - except in reverse

Hate this argument.....

Wonder how many people criticising players have played pro
Wonder how many people criticising politicians have ever been a politician
Wonder how many people who criticise food in a restaurant have been a chef
Wonder how many people who complain about NHS have been a doctor
Wonder how many people who criticse travelling friends for leaving a mess have been a travelling friend
Etc etc etc

People can have an a perfectly valid opinion based on what they've seen and experienced without having done the job themselves.

Exactly agree 100% i'll also add nobody in their right mind expects perfection but lets be straight far too many blatantly wrong calls are getting made week after week & i dont mean fwd passes or knock ons game changing incidents like Westwood on Sutty Obstruction trys given one week yet not the next etc etc.

Thaler has gone backwards since 2015 however him and Bentham are the only ones who have any decent rapport with players. The others almost determined not to have any and don't work to work with the players to make a match as good as it can be. Think this has played s part in more ref/player dissent incidents.

Child to be fair to him has actually been a little better just lately because he finally seems to have realised not every game needs dozens of penalties.

Doesn't seem to be good enough communication between the Match Officals Department and coaches/clubs judging by some interviews by coaches who seem to be at a lost with them.

Whilst I understand concerns about criticisms of referees, it shouldn't go the other way of "don't say nothing" because we don't have a game without then, or setting an example. Because nothing will change if you take the latter approach and sweep it all under the carpet,

^ Excellent post.

I dont think the standard of referees has dropped really but some fans seem more obsessed in watching the ref than the players.

Guy behind me in Carnegie spends 80 mins just constantly moaning at ref. If a Leeds player gives an obvious and clear penalty away that's not the players fault it's cos the ref is biased. Leeds haven't conceded a try all year that wasn't caused by a referee's mistake.

A few weeks ago we outplayed Salford on the day and won comfortably yet some moron threw his beer at the ref who had no bearing on the result. At Wigan last week a guy near me who I've sat near before just constantly begging for a penalty at every play the ball and was adamant we was been cheated in a game where the opponents were simply too good for our young team.

It's a tough job and if you accept they will make mistakes from time to time and accept that players decide the outcome of games not the refs then things will seem better.

We have a group of inexperienced refs at the moment learning their trade but jeez the days of Whitfield, Lindop and Kershaw was no better than now.