You can't imagine there's much love lost between Steve Ganson and Ashley Klein at the minute.

After all the blundering events and cock-ups of this week, Super League's top two referees have found themselves in a real mess.

It appeared Ganson was going to take all the flak for the horrors that ruined the end of Millennium Magic and brought so much negative publicity to the game.

That was until it emerged - eventually - Klein had actually dropped the real clanger by whispering into Ganson's ear he'd missed the obvious penalty that never was.

Ganson, who was ready to play-on, blows up and we all now know what happened next.

Anyone would think the invisible Klein had it in for his mate by causing such an error, leaving Ganson exposed and in the line of fire.

Ganson, flown out to Brisbane as the RFL's choice of official for the Anzac Test between New Zealand and Australia two weeks earlier, apologised for his mistake and admitted it cost the Bulls the game.

But it took another 24 hours for the input of Klein - in charge of that same Test last year - to rear its ugly head and we still haven't seen a grovelling sorry' from him just yet.

Bulls boss Steve McNamara has to be praised for bringing the whole situation to a head with his tirade in the post-match press conference.

He had the guts to speak out when many Super League coaches have, understandably, stayed silent, and his accusations backed the RFL into a corner from which they were never going to escape unharmed.

McNamara wasn't only on the offensive because his side had lost though. This was weeks of festering issues boiling up inside finally spilling over.

When they defeated Warrington a week earlier, on the back of a highly favourable 17-6 penalty count, he was still seething afterwards because of a number of glaring errors made by Klein - the match official that day.

Like most Super League coaches, McNamara has regularly been in touch with RFL referees' boss Stuart Cummings on Monday mornings, chasing answers about yet more incompetent refereeing displays. Something had to be done and referees have to be made accountable.

Bulls hooker Terry Newton is tonight contemplating three weeks on the sidelines and forking out £300 for a foul that even his alleged victim admitted was accidental.

He is being made to pay heavily for his apparent wrongs but how do the referees get punished for their catastrophic errors?

They don't get hit in the pocket at all but they are prevented from playing any role in the Carnegie Challenge Cup this weekend.

Messrs Ganson and Klein must really be crying into their headsets at missing out on a trip to Whitehaven or Sedgley Park. Put your feet up guys, have a day off.

The real litmus test would have been if Cummings dropped his two most experienced full-time whistle-blowers from Super League next weekend but the fixture list falls nicely for him and there's no sign of any fines.

Ganson made a simple gaffe. A gaffe with huge consequences but an honest one nonetheless and one he has since apologised for. He could be labelled incompetent.

Klein, meanwhile, has actually broken a rule and that is far different to any genuine blunder. In most jobs, if you break rules, you receive a warning or maybe face the sack. No one is calling for Klein to be sacked - yet.

Cummings has staunchly stood by his lieutenants in the past and in many eyes such loyalty is a great quality. But if his referees are consistently making mistakes, he is not doing his job by defiantly standing by them.

Maybe he is to blame as much as anyone. After all, Cummings is in charge of the officials and his men aren't producing.

It is four years since Cummings took over at Red Hall and has there really been any significant improvement in the standard of refereeing? Contentious calls, poor decisions, wrong decisions and bad communication are all as rife now as they were in 2003.

Players are increasingly dumbfounded by referees' interpretations of rules - which are led by Cummings - and the introduction of full-time officials has done nothing for the game.