Another difference is McManus did his complaining in an in-house club made program that is aimed at his own fans. Gausch has done his whinging in a regional newspaper with a much wider reach.

and the difference is that McManus had some editorial control of what would get published in a programme, especially as it reflects the entire club - whereas with a newspaper interview editorial control lies elsewhere and it's only Gausch's viewpoint.

Yes, there was no reporting of McManus's unhinged ranting anywhere outside St Helens

I'm fine with what he has said, as long as he stands by it . In a way I hope Catalan make the final next year to see what happens.

Well...

Where to start with that.

Of course I think Catalans should have won.

If the red card and penalty try had been given, rightly or wrongly I think that would have been enough to see us over the line.

We can talk about the punch that didnt get picked up on, the kick to touch and the incorrect play the ball as well.

I am sure for every Catalans fan on here mentioning that there will be 10 Saints fans giving their own side of the game with examples of their own (that I ignored!!)

These things happen and the Saints got the win.

Fair play to them and congratulations.

(gritted teeth emoji needed)

As for Bernard, he often uses the screen of the officials so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

I also think we will need to rebuild a bit now with Maloney going and Sam T being a year older. If that is a French spine to the side it might be a while before our next final, if we ever make it again at all.

I think we have had Hicks 3 times, had to be on his best behaviour in the UK, however he reffed our game at Catalan he was atrocious and Saints lost by a controversial decision by allowing tackled McMeeken to pass the ball off the floor and earlier Maloney did a dying swan act to earn a 2 pt penalty. We lost by 4 points, not a squeak from McManus but offered him coffee + biscuits in the following home fixture game.

Of course it did, but it wasn’t McManus that did that, it was the other journos chasing controversy. McManus was just whinging in his own program to a bunch of people that already agreed with him.

I’m not defending McManus either, as much as I felt aggrieved by Hicks in that game, the chairman coming out and doing that was embarrassing and he was rightly punished.

The point here is that Gausch hasn’t had anywhere near the same reaction, despite the fact he’s gone out of house and said all this in a newspaper, in a country in which we are currently trying to make great strides in expanding into. The precedent has been set and Gausch is due a more severe punishment than was handed to McManus, because his transgression was worse and not only that, he rounded it off with a threat that threatens the integrity of the entire super league.

The fact that loads of fans are backing Gausch’s comments are hilarious, but not surprising considering the small mindedness of RL fans in general. Saints are successful therefore they are bad and everything they do is bad! They only win because the refs! Poor catalan/castleford/Salford delete as appropriate

I thought the game was very good and the ref was no worse or better then any other ref maybe we should try like they are in football and have all women in charge ie ref lins women and video refs

Fair points, just to endorse that the McManus spat was really an internal affair (match program) that eventually transgressed into breaking the operational rules and a £3000 fine.

Gausch was very much a spat externally sent across a social media platform(s) with a conditional demand for any future participitation. I'm pretty sure this also breaks operational rules, will the RFL subject a similar £3000 fine or will the RFL back off and just give him a slapped wrist.

Amazing that some people can twist themselves into believing that McManus actually sitting down and writing something for public consumption, presumably several days after the event, is considered less bad than Gausch saying a few heated things directly after the event.

It also needs remembering that McManus followed up his programme notes with a press release so it's by no case an internal thing that he couldn't imagine would be picked up on outside St Helens.