the referee

[Roy Law]

I thought for a change that the referee was excellent; instead of hiding behind the easy choice of flashing a yellow or red card he actually spoke to the players most notably Hutchinson and Elrich when Hutch hacked him down. Many an A league referee who thinks that they are bigger than the game would have brandished a red never mind a yellow but this ref didn't. He took a long time to talk to both - old fashioned common sense refereeing. Did the same  with Kwasnik later on too.

 

[jockey]

Couldn't agree more, but I do think a couple of the chats went a minute or so too long.

The Yellow on Danny was a wrong call but that wont change until the FFA go with the 5th official (viewing a replay) helping the 1st official.

Hopefully they are getting the balance and the quality of officials right!!!

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

Can't agree with you there - when one of our players had to go off injured because one of their players was cautioned for a tackle that everybody I know thinks should've been a red it highlights that he was too lenient at some stages.

Hutcho's tackle on Elrich wasn't too far from having the potential to break his leg either.  There's times when you can deal with it by talking, and times when you need to make a player responsible for his actions - for committing a tackle that every single player knows is highly illegal - as well as reminding everybody that they can't do it.  Player safety has to be paramount, but this season it hasn't been - we've had several players injured from reckless and dangerous tackles that have gone unpunished, or received a yellow when there should've been the red.

I don't really get why people immediately think a ref is 'hiding' when they issue a card, or 'think they're bigger than the game'.  Nor have I quite figured out why letting players get away with blue murder is generally referred to as 'common sense refereeing'.

Look at what happened in leg 1 of the Semi - Breeze tried to talk to players despite some ridiculously brutal, blatant and even tactical fouls by both teams, and didn't pull out a card for the majority of them.  As such he pretty much lost control, and was incredibly inconsistent when he realised what he had done and tried to tighten up.  Sometimes you need to card, sometimes you don't.  It's completely dependant upon the situation - neither carding nor not carding is necessarily the right answer. 

 

[jockey]

Fair point Capn - From a Mariners view we've been on the wrong end of some pretty ordinary decisions this season. I may be seeing it with one eye closed, however a mate and his dad in Newcastle over a couple of beers said we were ripped off.
I get the impression that you've been an official on the field at a senior level?
Trust me, it's not easy to get it right every time.

 

[Capn Gus Bloodbeard]

jockey - yeah, I've been refereeing for a while, seniors for a couple of years.  Still do.

You are right that we've had a fair bit of bad luck, and a number of significant decisions have gone against us.  While Williams made a few mistakes (though it was his AR that fell for Griffiths' dive), it went a bit more both ways than some other games.  Not that I'd accuse a referee of bias - even Breeze - but we certainly copped the wrong end of poor decisions a lot more than Jets in Leg 1.