We are so sick of these statements. Same thing last year, apparantly the eagles got a good run at home. It was a 32 point game, Crocs had 28 Turnovers. The foul count was 22-20 perths way. Why are u making a ridiculous statement like this.

Was at the game, we did get a few home court calls, but why no 1 cryz when the breakers play?? How do there games get reffed? Its all wayz about perth! Lucky the boyz havnt found there shooting touch! They would ove won by 50! Even the games this yr they cant even it the ocean when there open and the continue 2 win by big margins bar the 3 and 6 points to the crocs n 36ers!

i'v only started the game. but i can agree perth are very good team and townsville are not up to their level, i just want to open the discussion. crowds have an impact on the refs, its the sixth player. so the biggest crowd in the nbl will have the biggest effect. you must admit its visible watching the game.

yeah nz is pretty bad as well, it just becomes more visible in perth since they are such a physical and defensively strong team. and probably more frustrating and thats why you see all these posts.

yeah its awesome to see and hear that crowd in the stands, im asking do you think if the league continues to grow should they look at international refs to bring the nbl up to a higher level of league?, refs that are more used to a crowd of that size?

Ok give the refs a break for a second and remember we have lost Billy Mildenhall and Ray Tomlinson and they were around for ever. I think 20 seasons plus each.

We also have one of the referees from the gold medal match at the Olympic Games in Michael Aylen.

There is a gorgeous young blonde referee that I can't recall seeing at our games but on TV she has done great.

If you get her and Aylen (who has had games in Perth but not many) and you add another decent referee and it should be fine.

There is only one way that our referees will gain experience from being in an arena that size and that is to go out there and do it.

There has been 10 games played at Perth Arena EVER, with no games played during pre season. That is 30 games experience total between our referees!

To me this isn't an issue and given suitable time and experience refs will improve, but please don't get upset over a passionate crowd that are loud and fair!

Bring in the roborefs and watch people complain about their programming.

@banked shot nobody can say you didn't call it.

This is a good argument. And strong. I think we all factor in that the game perth play is highly aggressive. Its like when they come here, u cant touch redhage or there is a fight but he can land blows on others, hold em down. Eventually, they will whinge they didnt win because of the refs, well they do anyhow with all the GF losses to NZ. So they get karma eventually.

My point with Hunt (sorry about that) and Mildenhall was they have reffed in front of 17000 (magic vs. tigers) so a 12000 crowd shouldn't phase them and I'm sure having their experience out there would give the other referees the confidence needed to make a big call.

I don't really get how refs can be swayed by the crowd on individual decisions, because the crowd noise takes a while to kick in and by that time if the ref hasn't blown his whistle then it's too late to blow it anyway.
I can understand how a string of loud crowd reactions can build up pressure on the refs to call the next one in favour of the home team though. I've seen that effect in action plenty of times.

Fans in Perth have been great for a long time at putting that pressure on the refs. Personally I though it was far more intense at Challenge than at the Arena though. Challenge was more intimate in that players and refs could hear individual comments from a good percentage of the crowd. The crowd could hear each other better, and would really gang up on the reffing at times.
At the Arena the overall noise is probably greater due to having 11,000 instead of 4,000 there, but it is not as intense, and the crowd doesn't ride the refs nearly as hard. Individual shouting just gets completely lost in space, so it's a more sterlie environment.

Having said all that, we do seem to get a good run with the calls this season, unlike at Challenge where the norm seemed to be for local refs to try to prove they weren't biased towards the Cats by overcompensating the other way. I haven't come away from too many games this season thinking we clearly got a raw deal, whereas it was pretty common in previous seasons.
There's not much point in being mad at the Cats or their fans over it, but I'm sure the NBL has avenues for complaints to be lodged.
I really don't want to hear it after games like last night's Crocs game though. The Crocs just do not have the brains or the discipline to get the better of the refs in a physical contest. WHen you carry on with undisciplined acts like Hinder and Ervin did, you're not going to get any favours.

Dan, have you seen the graphic going around that contrasts the home/away FT disparity (I think it is)? Perth's is unnatural...

I don't think this is just a fan view but extends to teams or at least some of their staff.

What would piss me off more as an opponent playing at Perth Arena is that lame ring the Perth cheerleaders form around the opposition bench late into the game.

Don't know about the reffing, although Steve Carfino was making some comments about physicality and consistency a couple of weeks back when he was calling the game @ PA.

Isaac, I don't know that I've seen that particular graphic, but I do recall seeing some stats fairly recently that pointed to a pattern, yes.
I'm not denying that there is a trend btw. I just don't know what the "answer" is when it comes to evening things out. To me, the crowd's ability to influence the refs is something that is human nature from the refs POV and therefore very difficult to eliminate.

But opponents would give themselves a much better chance of getting a fair go if they didn't have chips on their shoulders about the reffing before they even set foot in the building.
Shitty calls are going to happen and they're not always the result of bias. They're typically just the result of refs being far from perfect. So when a team comes here and has mentally lost the reffing battle in their own minds before opening tip-off has even occurred, then plenty of times it will be a self-fulfilling destiny because they're already preoccupied with it.

I think the Cats players are better than most others at copping incorrect calls and just getting on with things without too much fuss, and that stuff makes a difference to refs. Again, human nature.
Having a big dummy spit and copping a tech will often get a coach the next questionable call or two, but just being whiny all game about every call will rarely see you come out in front of the foul count.

ChuckBerry, That ring the cheerleaders do around the opponents bench late in the game is a crowd favorite! Who cares if the opponents hate it. It's all part of the intimidation factor. Maybe other clubs should take the initiative and do something similar at their games, then it will be even for all. Besides, it's only done during close games anyway.

Dan, trying to see if I can find it. Stay tuned.

Here it is: https://mobile.twitter.com/dj_rod/status/298322283838185472

Cats certainly do stand out on that chart!

The other stat a bit like that is the FT% across venues - big dip in Adelaide thanks
to Quentin's work on the big screens...

I'd like to see the comparison as percentages rather than raw numbers though. Would be more meaningful.

There's occaisional bad calls (or non-calls) and then there's letting Redhage maul everyone near him without penalty. The guy is a dirty player and the refs let him continue to play that way without penalty.

*slaps head*