Hull FC head coach John Cartwright has admitted he felt sorry for referee Tom Grant, who took charge of the Black and White’s Challenge Cup loss to Leigh Leopards.
Cartwright watched his side lose a fourth consecutive game as they fell to a 16-6 defeat with the Black and Whites failing to score a point in the second half for a second straight game.
Those attacking flaws were something he owned, however, he did question the lack of the video referee when asked if he was happy with Grant’s performance.
“It’s not that you’re not happy, I just don’t understand a lot of the decisions that are made and I felt sorry for him in a way,” Cartwright told BBC Radio Humberside.
Explaining why he felt that way, Cartwright added: “There’s no video ref, no help from above watching for incidents that might happen or didn’t happen.
“In this day and age, I don’t know how that can happen but that was the same for both sides.”
Hull FC boss questions ruck speed inconsistencies
A second-half scuffle that resulted in Cade Cust and Lachlan Lam being sin binned was one such incident where the video referee would have helped out, with plenty of players from both sides becoming embroiled.
However, Cartwright was also focused on the speed of the ruck and the way in which fresh sets of six were awarded, something that hasn’t been an uncommon complaint from head coaches so far this year.
He said: “I think both sides of the hemisphere are coming to terms with these fast rucks and that’s the one, because there’s no stop in play so you don’t know what the difference between that one (six again) and the next one is.
“We can try and get some clarification but next week might be totally different again.”
With referees having no defined rule to work from on what a quick ruck is, the consistency of ruck speed has changed from game to game with Bradford Bulls’ head coach Kurt Haggerty previously revealing that his side are now profiling referees, as well as their opposition.
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