I think it's the standard of refereeing in general.
I watched the Armagh Roscommon game there a couple of weeks ago. We all know Armagh are undisciplined in their tackling but some of the frees Gough was giving Roscommon were just beyond a joke. I'd be worried if I was an intercounty defender these days, I'd be afraid to make a tackle because some referees treat the game like it was netball, that if you lay a hand on a defender that doesn't get the ball it's a free and some teams are smart enough to play on a narrative and to play a referee and that's what I saw in that game.
What is incredibly frustrating for players is when a referee calls something up one end of the pitch and fails to be consistent down at the other.
There's always this narrative pushed about Ulster teams being cynical, aggressive and dirty and when you look across the board it's completely unfounded. You look at the treatment Peter Harte got against Kerry last year, under the referee's nose in an All Ireland semi final for 70 minutes and barely a dicky bird about it. You can guarantee if Tyrone blackguarded Clifford like that in the same game there would be uproar. That narrative will eventually play on referees.
McGeary has had an unfair reputation built about him when it comes to tackling and giving fouls away, for me he is probably the most technically proficient tackler in the Tyrone team. He can be a bit overzealous at times and needs to realise he can't win every ball but he's been very, very unfairly treated by match officials of late.
Just curious but why do you think referees have decided to be sore on mc Geary in particular if he is as you say our most technically proficient tackler.
I agree with bigtogs btw
Because he's an aggressive player who makes tackles.
Just look back at the game at the weekend, he has two frees blown against him in the scoring area where his tackling has been textbook, he's done everything a coach will tell you, make yourself big and get your body in the way. One of them has Coen engineering a free by grabbing McGeary's arm and going to ground dragging McGeary over with him, the other has O'Donoghue running into his outstretched arm and flopping to the ground clutching his face when McGeary arm was across his chest where he had the ball.
I'd be afraid to make a tackle these days if I was defender with some of the refereeing I've seen out there. There seems to be impunity for forwards to foul defenders coming out with the ball at the back but if a defender puts a hand on a forward it seems to be blown up.
It's not netball at the end of the day and some of the refereeing I saw in the last two weeks, not just in the Tyrone games, has been farcical.
