Writing the day after the Grand Final, and with time to reflect and a chance to see short highlights, the feeling of disappointment and anger is hard to shed. Saints were one hundred per cent the better team and deserved to win the match but the feeling that the Red Devils did not get the rub of the green for the decisions is still there.
It may be that I am as one-eyed as I think the referee was! But it felt like marginal decisions went against the Reds. 60/40 decisions in the Red's favour seem to go against the team.
When Tui Lolohea went in for the greatest Grand Final no try, the referee let play go on for three/four seconds and only blew up when Lolohea put the ball down. Why not go to the video referee as he did for two of Saints tries? Fans of small clubs such as Salford would probably suggest that if it had been one of the 'big' clubs then the referee would have used technology.
After this year's Challenge Cup final where the referee made an incorrect decision without using the screen, you would have thought that prudence would have won the day for what was an extremely marginal call.
Did the referee make the correct decision in Lolohea's case? Seeing the try from the main TV angle I think he may have, although our images show a different perspective and the referee could not have properly seen if Lolohea ran behind Logan Tomkins as he was not directly in front of them, therefore is was a guess.
But what is clear to me is that the referee should have used the screen. Why? Simply because it was a marginal call, whether he was correct or not. He essentially allowed Salford to score before stopping play, the video ref would have showed if it was a try or no try and defused the situation.
That said, however hard done we feel with the decisions especially in the second half - a headbutt leaves Krisnan Inu needing attention, no penalty! A Kevin Naiqama shoulder charge forces a knock-on scrum to Saints, when it should have been a penalty to Salford etc - Salford did not do enough with the ball to win the match.
The open rugby which got the team to the Grand Final was missing, partially due to the pressure of the event, but largely due to Saints who played really well. When we did open up we caused them some problems. When Salford did have field position the attacking kicks let us down and too often Saints full-back Lachan Coote was under no pressure. From this we weren't able to build sustained pressure, which is the easiest way in the modern game to score points.
The players and coaches did extremely well this season to get to Old Trafford even though we did not win the Grand Final. For the team tipped to finished second from bottom to finish second overall is a monumental achievement, which everyone is so proud of.
The support last night was brilliant and hopefully some of the supporters who turned up will support the team next season. With that extra support we may start to regularly attend these events and expect to win!
Well done Ian Watson, the players and coaches, thanks for all your effort this season
Words by Jack Rogers
Photos by Gareth Lyons - for loads more photos see Gareth's Flickr page - click here
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