The truth is somewhere in between mate. You cannot deny Tigers have been poorly drilled and disciplined over the years. They have also lacked resilience when things have not gone their way. They simply have to be better.
Maybe the referees are part of some self-fulfilling prophecy caused by our incompetence which is disadvantaging the Tigers. Maybe, but i'm not really convinced. No one has provided any real evidence beyond the odd howler that we are systematically being refereed differently to other teams. Regardless, does whinging about it change anything? probably not.
I agree mate . We’ve been badly disciplined especially a few years ago when we had BJ Leilua running around … but it’s up to an official , judge , adjudicator , referee whatever position it is … to be able to rise above and treat every case individually .
And the referees under the Sutton regime , have lost sight of this , in the pursuit of the ideal of putting on the best product .
Think about it like this … if you go into every game with just this one basic idea “ team A is the best team , and team b is the worst team , any 50/50 decisions that I’m not sure about I’m going to lean towards team a” is that then still an actual 50/50 decision anymore ? Because IMO by its very nature of the fact you’ve already predetermined an outcome at that percentage point , that it’s no longer 50/50 , but rather 💯 in the favour of team A. So now just to get a fair shake , what percentage does team b need to hit to get a Decision go thier way ? Is it 60? Is it 70% ? 55?
What number does team B need to hit for them to break free of the already unconscious/ or even conscious bias there .
And that’s the problem . It should be 0. At worst your odds should be 50/50. At no point should you think that decision that is far more favourable to an outcome in your way , is going to go the other way .
Which is my whole point . And why this leaning towards the strong teams as basis point is extremely bias . Because now team B has to almost have the absolute obvious decisions are the only ones they’re gonna get . Which is why there’s soo many howlers . Because refs have predetermined outcomes in thier mind . Whether it be from video , previous matches , experiences , fans in thier DMs .. whatever .
And that’s the stuff I’m arguing about . Because the refs have openly admitted , and everyone treats it as an unwritten rule . Be a good team and get the rub … right ?
No .. the maths doesn’t add up … it’s really be a good team and we will be bias towards you .. and that’s bullshit …