Just watching back on the "highlights" footage. A few things I picked up...



Firstly is it just me or does Ethan Ryan score a perfectly good try in the corner in the first minute? For me he grounds the ball and its a decent try? The TJ has a brilliant view and he has had a nightmare there by not giving the ref the correct call.



Next up the Massive "try"... Pickersgill doesn't ground it, but then again neither does Massive. Another wrong call.



That said we get a huge bit of good luck (another bad call from the ref and TJ) with the Ethan Ryan try just before half time. The ball from Chizzy is a good 3m forward and not 100% he actually grounds it.



The main thing that stands out for me is when the ball goes through the hands we looked dangerous and shows that we can do it but just aren't been given the freedom to play (Kear to blame for me).



I've been a big critic of Chisholm on here and in the past but maybe Kear's tactics are actually stifling him and goes to demonstrates that Rohan Smith was very willing to let the team play what's in front of them

With the first min try I thought at the time the TJ looks to be heading for the corner of the dead ball line which I think means he is happy and the ref has a poor obscured view and gives no try straight away without reference to his assistant

With Ryan's 1st try I think the ball hits the flag while he has hold of it I don't know if that is classed as out of play or not

Flag doesn't matter now if the player is in possession of the ball.



I thought Ryan's try just before half time was a bit dubious so I suppose getting it cancels out the 1st minute try that wasn't given.



These things tend to even out over the season.

Pretty sure the the flag is still classed as touch in goal if the ball hits it whether or not in a player's possession and the 'not touch in goal' rule only applies to body contact with the flag. The corner flag is still defined as 'touch in goal' in the laws of the game.

I think if the ball is kicked and hits the flag then yes, it counts as being dead in goal. But if a player is in possession of the ball then the flag is essentially ignored. Bit of a weird rule but it makes sense in my opinion.

That's my understanding too. Anyone got a rulebook?

Yeah, that's how I understand it.

Coming back to earlier points, on the disallowed 'try' the touchie was clearly going to the corner, which is the signal that he has no problem with it, but before he got there the ref came steaming in and said no. He clearly had a different position to view from so he obviously saw it differently and he thought it wasn't a score. On the 'forward pass', yes I thought it was too, however there were a number of 'forward passes' throughout the game and none were pinged so why would they give that one?

Forward passes are a bit like being within the 10m at the play the ball. It happens quite often but his rarely penalised

I think the ball touched the base of the flag and the touchline simultaneously. Which I think is touch in goal.

To be honest, it's difficult to say EXACTLY where the ball touched from the replay. So far as I understand it though the current rule is that if the ball is in possession then the flag is out of the equation.

I've actually stopped bothering about 'forwards'. With the speed of the game and players playing to the line there are just so many close ones in the average match you'd go mad if you let it get to you - they invariably go both ways so who cares?