Whoever the ref is, it shouldn't matter. We should concentrate on winning the match rather than worrying who the damn ref is.

Indeed.







[size=50* he says thanking the lord it wasn't f*cking Bentham.[/size

The ref has such a big influence on the match, much more than in football.



He can either decide its a knock on, and the oppo get a set of 6, or he can decide it was reefed, and give the attacking team another set of six 30m downfield.

Silverwood's OK. I'd have preferred Ganson or Terry Albert, personally.

Not worrying.

Now it's not Bentham

Nope, he's a fully paid up member of the Saints supporters club - so you might have a chance of an upset...

I just hope he lets the game flow

Has anyone got the statistics for St Helens matches that Ganson has refereed and Warrington matches for Bentham? Ganson was the ref at the Magic Weekend when Wigan beat Saints last year, but I don't think there have been many ( or any?) other Saints defeats when he was referee. He also gave Saints the big benefit of the doubt when as VR hed awarded the Saints try against Salford.



Officiating one's home town team ( or where one lives in Bentham's case) is a thorny issue and Cummins bears responsibility for this. Maybe the above refs should not be placed in this predicament in the first place - there are enough refs on the panel to avoid this controversial situation.



Wigan never had the "benefit" of having the Connolly brothers referee their games in the 80's/90's - maybe it's time some new Wiganers became " merry whistle blowers"! That would get the Saints and Wires fans angry - particularly if they had 50/50 calls go against them when playing Wigan in a crucial Challenge Cup/Play Off game!!

Actually this is down to the wingeing Australians not wanting a NZ ref for the GB V Aus game. And once the softies that run the international game allowed this it was always on the cards that home town refs would be allowed to ref there home town side.

John Holdsworth said he came from Kippax which allowed him to referee Leeds games. Would be the equivalent of a Wigan ref saying they're from Hindley under the old rules and being able to referee us. As much as I can't see the need for referees being used in matches involving their hometown clubs I don't think there's much evidence of bias in this situation tbh. As for the comments about Bentham, having been at each of the games he's reffed this year except quins, which I've got on DVD, I can't really see how he can be blamed to be honest. Blaming the ref is a cop out in most instances imo.

Send the physio on with an air horn as the hooter blows, just to make sure he hears it.

I'm stunned Cummings passed on the opportunity to give Bentham this game.