Rugby League talking points: Refereeing controversy, Super League’s relegation battle and Bradford Bulls’ Odsal goodbye

Scrutiny of the pictures Super League’s referees, and the ultimate match of Odsal all feature.
It has been a tough week to get the game officials, that possess a thankless enough task without the onslaught of criticism of Super League they’ve faced from several quarters.
On Friday, St Helens owner Eamonn McManus caused a stir with his comments about the appointment of Robert Hicks to the Challenge Cup and some of the decisions that the Saddleworth referee created at Wembley to the game against Castleford Tigers.
Those comments have observed McManus – who released a statement on Sunday via the club site reiterating his views – referred to the compliance team of the RFL.
Wakefield Trinity head coach Chris Chester didn’t return on Sunday was left fuming by the situation which resulted in Liam Marshall scoring a try at Sunday’s 24-16 defeat to Wigan Warriors.
Referee Scott Mikalauskas failed to ensure Wigan winger Marshall exploited on the ball on the suitable mark from a 20-metre restart before extending the length of the area to score his second try of the game – .
“You have got a referee who is on the place and just let Liam Marshall exploit wherever he desired,” Chester said post-match.
“I don’t know whether the principles have changed, but it’s only a disgraceful telephone, a disgraceful call. It is a telephone you should not get wrong.”
That defeat left as only one of 3 teams squeezing two points above the relegation place with two games left in the regular period Wakefield, that have just two wins in their previous 13 Super League games.
A 24-6 success in Perpignan over Catalans Dragons watched Hull Kingston Rovers stay in that group, by winning 22-12 on the street at Hull FC while Huddersfield Giants did likewise.
It means bottom side London Broncos must win both of their remaining games away to Rovers – which can be live on Sky Sports that Friday – to have any hope of remaining up after a beat at home to Leeds Rhinos on Sunday.
The Broncos have defied many naysayers to become still in with a chance of avoiding the drop at this phase of the season and head coach Danny Ward has backed his team to climb to the challenge .
“The boys are ruined because they understand they have not performed well and they have lost, but it is a brief turnaround and we’ve got to win another two,” Ward said.
“They’ve been in this situation before and they could draw on those experiences. It is must-win time, it’s black and white so that it depends upon how the boys react to this and hopefully they deal with this pressure and it will get the best out of them.”
Catalans’ defeat to Hull KR eliminated them from contention leaving four groups jostling for position behind League Leaders’ Shield winners St Helens.
Castleford Tigers are two points beyond the play-off places following Friday’s 4-0 defeat to Saints, whereas Salford Red Devils, Hull FC and Warrington Wolves are locked on 30 points.
But it is currently year’s Grand Final winners Wigan who venture on the pursuing bunch following Sunday’s win away to Wakefield.
From opponents St Helens – in their 10 matches since losing at Magic Weekend to Warrington, the Warriors are currently on a run which has seen them endure only one defeat – after a patchy start to their title defence.
Head trainer Adrian Lam knows the job isn’t completed yet, but is delighted with the way.
“The dressing room’s quite excited at the moment,” Lam said. “They understand, they have been prepped across the way how significant this was and the travel that we’ve been on to get here.
“I did not wish to mention the other hand when we had of missing, a potential probability of missing out over the five collectively. That it is.
“Everybody’s worked really hard and I think we are in a fantastic place at the moment.”
Because they bid farewell house since 1934 it was an emotional weekend for the players, staff and supporters of Bradford Bulls.
The ground which has hosted global Tests and after saw over 100,000 fans cram into it to get a Challenge Cup final replay will now have its doors closed after becoming prohibitively expensive to the club, with all the Bulls moving 11 miles away to ground-share in Dewsbury Rams’ Tetley’s Arena for 2020.
The 7,531 crowd in attendance on Sunday saw Bradford sign off at the ground in a high since they defeated Sheffield Eagles 30-10 at the Championship and also chairman Andrew Chalmers has pledged the club will come back to the city.
As yet, however, there are no firm plans as to where or when that is.
“It’s sad, but I don’t know the financing in ultimate detail so we’ve just got to keep this team alive and kicking and hopefully progressing,” Bulls head coach John Kear said after the win over Sheffield.
“That is what we will be trying to perform at Dewsbury this past year before hopefully we come back somewhere in Bradford that’s befitting of a team that is hard for Super League or has been in Super League.”
Finally, spare a thought for Barrow Raiders, who had to confront the might of Toronto Wolfpack in Canada with just 14 players on Saturday.
The Raiders’ squad was decimated by injuries in recent weeks anyhow and the part-timers also had several players who have been unavailable to create the trip.
Given those circumstances, the 62-8 conquer – with Barrow’s points all coming from Jamie Dallimore in his 100th appearance for the club – against the fulltime leaders isn’t a disgrace.
Unfortunately at the next grade, this reduction supported their relegation to League One after two decades back for the Raiders. However, there is place to be at least Cumbrian representative in the Championship next year.
Whitehaven’s 74-6 win on the weekend means that they only need to prevent away defeat to Coventry Bears on Saturday to seal promotion.
Neighbours Workington Town may be coming up as well last year, after missing if they could successfully navigate the play-offs.

Read more: ufc betting