It has been mentioned in commentary on the past two sky games and during the season that more and more players are talking to the officials and questioning decisions. Plenty of the Leeds players have done it over the years and it appears to becoming a bigger problem this season not just for Leeds but all clubs. Kyle Eastmond was nearly down Silverwoods shirt last night after the no try decision.



Is this just the game moving forward (the refs appear to want to be the centre of attention and quite like the chats and laughs off the ball) or a lack of respect for the officials from the new young blood of the super league?



My personal opinion is that it should be the captain and only the captain that speaks to the official. The offending player can raise the point through the captain but only the teams captain can speak to the officials.



Anyone else's thoughts?

Couldn't agree more. The players know the rules about dissent. The captain and only the captain should speak to the referee.



However, there does need to be more consistency between the referees on this ruling. Ganson penalised us everytime a player (barring Sinny) spoke to him, out of turn. But then Silverwood failed to do anything about Eastmond.

there were two sinbinned at the JJB for it on friday night!

It was/is also the subject of Sky hype at the moment.



Any picture of a Leeds player talking to anybody last night was painted by Stevo as a continuing verbal assault on the referee.

Its up to the referees to stop it before it gets out of hand - really easy for them to do so as well, doesn't need a rule change just an enforcement, it'll take some time for the more gobby players to learn but you'd expect that from big daft lads.

I agree with the rule that players should not argue with the ref, it has been allways a rule in the game. But the ref also have to be fair. Ganson on Friday was a disgrace he gave everything against us, the pen he gave them which they kicked two points was a joke and to penalise Senior for head high tackle before the end was unbelievable. To my mind Ganson as an agenda against Leeds, he should not be allowed to ref Leeds

When I played (many many years ago) I was always under the understanding that if you ‘back-chatted’ to the ref he had the authority and know how to remove one of your bollox which he would then place on his hat in the way that Aussies have corks dangling from theirs.



Maybe the sight of Ganson in a testicular adorned Australian slouch may just remind player to keep their frickin’ gobs shut.

Totally agree with Mcf. It simply needs the ref to march them 10 yards back up the field for the first offense, with a clear message to the skippers that it'll be 10 mins in the sin bin if the same player repeats the offense.



As with all rules, it requires consistency from all the Officials.

I largely agree with the sentiments but at the same time, I think that we've also got a trend where there is a barrier between the referee and the players (or at least, the team captain).



The players should be able to talk to the referee and ask for clarification on any decision, particularly when certain scousers seem to blow their whistle with little rhyme or reason.



I think that we also need to be very careful that, as a sport, we don't get to the point where referees are considered to be untouchable. Behind closed doors, the referees should be subject to the same performance measurement that players are subject to and yet, because we only have a handful of full-time referees, I don't believe that's the case.

Signs of modern time it does seem. I'm sure 4 or 5 players in the bin every match would clamp it down. Does anyone want to see this though?



This topic has been mentioned for a couple of seasons now. Is it the same old chestnut, or is it gradually getting worse?

simple





for every sin bin clubs should be fined £5k



RFL allow clubs to make players involved pay 10% of the fine



would stop back chat plus other such acts and would tighten up the game

Evidently.