Something to avoid

[Spirit of 66]

Playing a major semi in Brisbane with Cummins as referee. We need to finish 2nd.

[Tommy Smith]

Couldn't agree more.

That first half tonight was a fix.

I still think we'd be too good for Brisbane though.

[mightyrooster]

What did the penalty count end up?

[2026]

What did the penalty count end up?

12 - 5

[mightyrooster]

Pathetic and lopsided as per usual. But clearly Pearce's fault.

[2026]

Couldn't agree more.

That first half tonight was a fix.

I still think we'd be too good for Brisbane though.

It really doesn't matter how good you are.

This is what the game has come down to under Dave Smiths watch.

[Headless Chook]

I hate footy in its current format. I have loved the game all my life and devoted 42 years to it now it has become a running joke. There is no team sport in the world that lends itself so much to manipulation by the referees. I could see what was happening after 30 minutes tonight and turned over to watch the cricket. At least they have the opportunity to refer the poor umpire decisions upstairs. I lost it when Matt Gillett played the ball whilst down on all fours in the lead up to their third try, it was way to blatant. Funnily enough I still have people on my facebook newsfeed blaming Pearce for the loss!!!

[roostersrule2]

I love a NSW loss, it lasts for ages.

[Johnny Tobin]

I still think I would prefer it to playing Thurston in Townsville. I hope that pleasure is reserved for Souffs.

[Bansai Pipeline]

I don't think it was a fix, it's just that it's nearly impossible to win when you get served on penalties like NSW did in the first half.

I'm really surprised there's not more media about it. I guess the final score kind of obscures it. But no pill in the second quarter = heaps of defence = no fuel left in the tank . NSW were never going to recover.

If a team as star studded as the Blues can get so comprehensively worked, then it's about more than the opposition.

Penalties are killing rugby league.

[player 1]

I hate footy in its current format. I have loved the game all my life and devoted 42 years to it now it has become a running joke. There is no team sport in the world that lends itself so much to manipulation by the referees. I could see what was happening after 30 minutes tonight and turned over to watch the cricket. At least they have the opportunity to refer the poor umpire decisions upstairs. I lost it when Matt Gillett played the ball whilst down on all fours in the lead up to their third try, it was way to blatant. Funnily enough I still have people on my facebook newsfeed blaming Pearce for the loss!!!

Yes that was when I stopped taking the game seriously too. For both refs to see him play the ball without getting to his feet and ignore it - it makes you wonder about a lot of things.

This game has become all about "winning the ruck". What the hell does that mean exactly? Because last night the refs point blank refused to make QLD get out of their own half on merit - they kept giving them 50 metre piggybacks and fresh sets of six whenever NSW tried to slow their play the balls - aided by the usual Inglis walking off mark/falling over defenders/passing into defenders milking crap employed by him and others. And Smith's dive - fresh after he copped an attitude for McKinnon criticising him for paying him out for diving while laying quadriplegic on the ground.

QLD used much more blatant slowing tactics when defending but were rarely pinged. Frustration and exhaustion helped open the floodgates.

It's an area that decides games and the adjudication is TOTALLY discretionary and open to agendas and match fixing.