Good referee makes for a good ANZAC Test

ref's performance was refreshing although his one blemish is a big one; how was Idris not put on report/sinbinned for his dangerous tackle on Hohaia (?) while the Kiwi was still in the air?? It was blatant (and obvious) yet the ref didn't call it. I wonder what else he didn't call?

Nathan - Are you serious??? '"Watch any game of either code and count the amount of incorrect decisions to the correct decision. More incorrect at least 80%. DISGRACE" This figure is highly incorrect and you my friend must be what I like to term an "emotional supporter".. In other words, whether or not the referee/umpire is correct doesn't matter to you, it's that it didn't advantadge your side. You've deadset plucked this figure from the woodwork. And no, i'm not claiming to have the figure on it, however I can guarantee you that out of all the decision's an offical will make in a single match, less than 3% would be incorrect - Did you know each time a player is tackled in rugby league a referee automatically makes 28 decisions? Further proof to my arguement in this is recent introduction of the Decision Review System the ICC Introduced to international cricket, more often than not, you see that the umpires have in the first instance made the correct call... I still don't trust a computer with LBW's though personally.. I can guarantee you the teams that these guys (and girls) at every level of sport oversee week in-week out will make plenty more mistakes than the referees or umpires.

Ridiculous comment. Being a ref in any code is tough and they make occasional mistakes in all codes. "How does the Nrl/afl let this happen?" it's called human error like missing a ball that passes the line in soccer. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

would love to watch super league and my beloved huddersfield but channel 9 hoard it too death.

NRL/AFL REF'S AND UMPIRES in this day and age have major influences on todays games for all the wrong reason's. Watch any game of either code and count the amount of incorrect decisions to the correct decision. More incorrect at least 80%. DISGRACE How the hell do the NRL and AFL let this happen???????????????????????????

Kangaroos did not impress me all that much. They have definitely lost their invincibility tag. Without the errors the kiwis may well have beaten them again. I would not be surprised to see the kiwis win their 3rd four nations at the end of the year with far more time for build up and settled combinations. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

Nothing worse in rugby league than a penalty on the fifth tackle for a minor infringement. The refs really need to get rid of giving piggybacks to attacking sides. Its frustrating for the fans. The kiwis have the wood on us. Its obvious with Lockyer and Petro retiring. The kiwis to me looked like they were blooding players, and Lewis Brown is a bulldog, a real talent.. Snowden, Indris and Yee Yow were brilliant.

I watched the majority of it in Perth , and saw 2 bits of play that impressed me, Slater getting a good pass and bolting through the gap, and the last try from NZ, with a nice low pick up from a bit of a wayward pass, dummy and nice kick inside for a try. I dont know where it was played, but the crowd seemed to be more NZ than OZ. When you dont notice the officials, they are doing a good job.

For mine this Test was far less entertaining than most others which have gone before it in recent times - all of which would have had more penalties. See last year's Four Nationa final for starters. The unnecessary piggy back penalties you sometimes see in the NRL are frustrating, but so is a game destroyed by the referees refusal to police the ten or the ruck. We saw the results last night - a pretty flat game from both teams. I'd prefer Silverwood's approach last night to an NRL style blitz - it is a Test match after all, they're meant to be tougher to crack - but there is a happy medium, and last night he didn't hit it.

Excellent performance by Silverwood - showed you don't need to blow your whistle at the slighest hold down at the ruck. Conversely, the lack of penalties to "piggy back" a team up the field tended to make the game a little boring for many I would think - given the teams spent much of the game marching up and down the field, rather than starting a set of six on the attack. The latter only happened from lost possessions. The problem with having less penalties in NRL games is that games would become very boring, at least for a while - without penalties and knock-ons the teams would have to learn how to take chances at their own end of the field to ever be able to attack their opponents at the scoring end of the field. If the number of penalties is reduced and/or the reward reduced (eg change the rule so there is no kick to touch allowed from a penalty), then RL (at NRL level at least) would almost certainly need the 6 tackle rule changed to something like a "4 + 4 tackle rule" i.e. the six tackle rule is changed back down to four, but if you cross half-way line in possession the tackle count restarts.

You guys need to watch super league. I do every sunday nite and monday nite if channel 9 bothers to put the games on. The refs blow that many penalties its not funny. If a player even gets touched near his head the whistle goes, off side by a inch whistle goes,laying on players to long whistle goes, as a matter of fact, the whistle and move is all your hear most the time. The 2 ref system is now ingrained and the disipline which comes from this makes it easy for the English refs. The players automatically know they need to get back 10 metres, no high shots, no laying on players. The English ref gets to Australia, all his frustrations of England are behind him, the players do everything right so he puts the whistle away. The last game between our countries also had hardly any penalties blown by the english ref, makes for a good fast game.

Agree, the ref was the reason this game was good to watch. Would love to see this style of reffing adopted in the NRL - he even managed to see that not all dropped balls are knock-ons!

I agree whole heartedly, the game, albeit very error ridden was won by the team that actually played better footy and not decided by which way the penalties flowed. My main theory around their being very few penalties was that i think the referee was from England (where they let a lot more go as the game isn't as pedantic), the fact he is only refereeing a one off test so his ego doesn't make him care if he gets his mug on TV and make a name for himself because he will be gone soon and that there was only himself (a senior and experienced referee) in control, instead of the case with round games where there is a less experienced one with the experienced one, generally blowing more pedantic penalties than the other experienced one... if you can understand that. Terrible to watch but better at the same time!

I loved the way there wasn't a single penalty up until around the 50 minute mark, so refreshing. I mainly watch Rugby and yearn for the day when I could watch even 10 minutes without a penalty. Its a big positive for league. Game was OK but the roos just aren't as deadly as they used to be, both teams lacked a cutting edge. I think partly because the Kiwi's picked a safety first team, like putting Mannering at center instead of a Steve Matai / Junior Sau type. The game breaking try by Idris was scored after the guy he took out in the air a few minutes beforehand coughed up the ball. He still looked concussed to me.