Liam Moore is the man in middle.

Same old moan but I just can’t see why the sport keeps putting itself in the position of having a Wiganer refereeing Wigan. It leaves him open to claims of bias or counter claims of him trying not to be biased. Let’s hope we don’t notice him anyway and there is no controversy.

I agree, but OTOH he did OK in the semi-final. But certainly, it's not a good look.

People moan about the ref being from a certain area. You know what you need to do then, apply to be a ref and change it then. As far as I am aware being picked for the final is a reward for having a good season. If we win on Saturday it’ll be down to the ref

Spot on. Only in RL could this happen. I actually think Moore has now gone too much the other way and Wigan seem to get a lot more decisions.

However given that Gausch said after the 21 GF that he wanted Australian refs and not English ones, the fact that the ref is from the same town as their opponents is quite laughable. You couldn’t make it up.

Conversely this could go against Wigan due to his comments. They just didn’t need to be in this position.

At one point Ganson was seen as the best ref but wasn’t allowed to referee Saints games. Not sure why things have changed. You’ve seen the furore it’s caused in football when Manchester based refs such as Anthony Taylor has refereed Utd games.

I personally think he’s got it because he’s been the best ref again this year, which is also why this will be his 3rd grand final in a row.
Ultimately the ref shouldn’t decide the game. Wigan have a job to do. It’s upto the team to get the job done.

We didn’t on Saturday when he missed an obvious offside. That error allowed HKR back into the match, albeit not for long.

It changed for Ganson as Saints kept making the final which ruled him (the best ref at the time) out of contention. They changed it and he reffed Saints in a final (which they lost).

You either accept they're impartial or you don't. If he's the best ref he should ref the final. Even if you do think they're biased, you could easily end up next season making the accusation that he's trying to ensure Wigan didn't make the final so that he could ref it.

I agree he is the best ref and by a distance. We also don't doubt players integrities when they play against teams they supported as a lad so why should we doubt refs. I get that 100%

However as I said, given the comments from Gausch after the 2021 GF then there could be a lot of controversy if there are any controversial decisions.

Lets hope no-one notices the ref and he has little influence on the result.

And a little off topic but couldn't find a relevant thread...

Lees wins his appeal, downgraded to a Grade A and fine only.

Williams appeal was deemed as frivolous and they've increased his ban from 1 to 2 games. The England captain, just before a Test Series. You couldn't make it up. Only in Rugby League.