If every team is bitching about the refs in Perth. Then maybe the NBL should look at why and not just dismiss it.

If i'm told the same thing by 3,4,5,6 different people.. Chances are there's some truth in what they're saying.

In saying that, Melbourne lost that game regardless.

Perth beats most teams regardless, because they are damn good team, but that doesn't mean they don't get unfair advantages, especially at home.

What is it with Perth. Coaches in afl last year cried foul saying eagles were favored by umps in Perth. People should get over it.

Perth get away with murder off the ball, that's why.

And West Coast averaged about 6 more frees for than frees against for the first 15 or so rounds. Yeah i wonder why people were complaining...

Didn't Rob Beveridge get fined $3000 a few seasons ago against NZ? Or was it much less? I recall $3000 but that seems a bit high, considering Anstey was much more blatent with his critique and only got a $1000 fine.

Nat, if you're told the same thing by 6 different people that hate the Wildcats regardless, then chances are you just met six people who are full of shit.

Giersch isn't a Perth ref and he was there on Sunday. Bull is a Perth ref, and he was the one who choked on his whistle when Lisch got an obvious foul in the dying seconds of a NZ game this year. So yeah....Perth refs, huh?

The refs aren't biased towards Perth, they're just incompetent, and Perth are the best team at exploiting that.

i don't understand it either, why a lot of people say that west coast teams exploit the system- it sounds like sour grapes to me.

wildcats are one of the best teams in the league, and it's not because umpires favour our team.. it's because we've got an incredible coach and an even better bunch of players who just work hard and work together. of course there are going to be ridiculous and unfair calls in every game, but that's just it, they happen in every game and against every team, it's not at all like wildcats cheat by exploiting the system or we're favored.

same goes for west coast eagles, people are just annoyed at the success and the tactics that they haven't yet worked out, so they suggest that the umpires are bias to cover their jealousy.

it's just my opinion, but i don't see how you can blame the outcome of cats vs Tigers on the refs. sure, there were dumb calls, but they occurred for both teams! we aren't second on the ladder for no reason, so i don't see how we're easy eats either..

to x- sounds like you're just jealous of the wildcats and eagles success. you can't blame the team for the umpiring- maybe it's just the fact that you don't want to accept that west coast were a clean team in terms of roughness and they were well enough disciplined to not give away cheap free kicks.

i wholeheartedly agree with catsfan, we're not easy beats if we're sitting high on the ladder, it's because we're hard working and actually win away games (with different refs!). if the umpires were so bias on the weekend, why did lisch, who rarely picks up any fouls, get a warning for flopping when he clearly fell over someone's foot, and then got up straight away to resume his play?

the umpires call stupid things, but it evens out. they didn't change the outcome of the game, rob beveridge called a time out, not the refs, and it was bound to happen that we would beat Melbourne anyway. we're just a good, and well disciplined team, with a massive home advantage

Loool a clean, disciplined team? No, they actually werent giving away that few frees. It was just the fact that they were getting more frees for than any team in the comp by exploiting the umpires' ineptitude, just like the Wildcats. West Coast's ducking and knee-buckling in 2012 was as unfair and detrimental to the game as Hayden Ballantyne's staging.

As for the jealousy argument, my team out-performed the Eagles in 2012, so there goes that.

It's a pity, as both the Wildcats and Eagles are great teams in their own right.