Knock on's v Hull

I noticed that too; some of the decisions were very odd. Carney was penalised for one in the first half and I couldn't see anything wrong at the PTB and it was right in front of me.

Here are the rule changes for 2017. Not much mentioned about PTB here, so I can't understand why the ref was blowing up so much.

Scrums

All Defensive players outside the scrum, other than the scrum halves must retire ten metres or more behind the mark where the scrum is formed and shall remain until the ball has emerged correctly from the scrum.

Goal Line Drop outs

The ball is touch in goal when it touches the corner post, in goal line or any object on or outside the touch in goal line.
A player is NOT considered to be an ‘object’.
Where the ball which is stationary in the in-goal area comes into contact with a player in touch in goal or over the dead ball line, the ball is deemed to have been made dead by that player.
The ball must have bounced on the ground either on or over the dead ball line/touch in goal line for a 20m restart to be awarded. Should the non-kicking team touch the ball whilst playing at it before this happens then a drop out will be awarded.

20 metre restarts

The 20-metre optional kick must only be taken when all officials are in position and the whistle is blown.
The initial tackle affected on the team taking the 20-metre optional re-start shall be a zero tackle.
A “quick tap” will not be permitted where the ball has been returned to the 20-metre line and has been passed.

40/20 restarts

Where a player kicks the ball in general play bounded by their own dead ball line, 40 metre lines and touchlines and the ball finds touch, otherwise than on the full, at a point on the touchline between the opponents 20 metre line and the goal line, the kickers team shall recommence play with a tap kick.
The tap kick will be taken 20 metres in from the touchline and in line with where the ball first crossed the touchline but no closer than 10 metres from the goal line.
The tap kick may only be taken when the Referee blows his whistle to restart play.
Prior to blowing the whistle the Referees will give the defending team a ‘reasonable time’ to get into position.
This will only occur when all match officials are in position and ready to officiate.

Markers

The team not in possession may have a maximum of 2 players stand directly ‘opposite the tackled player’ (Marker)
At the completion of the tackle the defender must take up a position as a Marker or retire the 10 metres
The second Marker ‘must stand immediately and directly behind’ the first marker.
Once the ball is played, any player who is not a Marker shall not be involved in play unless he has retired 10m toward his own goal line from where the ball was played.

There was another incident that confused me too. Hull kicked through and the ref appeared to signal that Salford had touched it but then gave hull a tap on the 20m line as though it was a 40-20. Maybe The hull kicker was inside the 40 but it didn't look like it and I'm sure the ref signalled that we'd touched it. I suspect 'the ref will blow his whistle after giving the defence a reasonsble time to set will get some variable interpretation, attract some controversy and receive boos from the fans who haven't bothered reading the rules properly 😊