Outspoken: Sydney FC coach Graham Arnold. Credit:Getty Images Throw in the evolution of the Big Screen coverage at the stadium, and there is nowhere for the referee to hide. And it does not end at the full-time whistle. Everyone has got an opinion on social media, which means mainstream coverage now uses refereeing decisions as an indispensable part of the news cycle. It is getting white hot out in the middle, that is for sure. Increasingly the criticism is shriller, and more vicious, despite the fact games are getting quicker, and players are becoming more cunning. So here is the fact, not the fiction. A-League referees are better than they were, and getting better all the time. They will never be perfect, but on the evidence which matters they are getting a lot more right than wrong. Not that you would know it. Four seasons ago, on key match decisions like penalties and red cards, A-League referees were getting it 67 per cent right. Last season that figure had climbed to 79 per cent. Right now, at the halfway point of the season, that figure is slightly down at 74 per cent, but as refs boss Ben Wilson explains: "Last season we had a strong second half and we're hoping to do the same." The way things are tracking, A-League refs are once again on course to do better at the big decisions than their counterparts in the AFL and NRL. On the matter of more routine decisions - highlighted by player safety calls - the success rate is even better. As of this week, the refs were getting 90 per cent of these decisions right as they aim for a target of 93 per cent. Last week's Manny Muscat-Roy O'Donovan altercation in Gosford - missed by Kris Griffiths-Jones - largely explains the shortfall.

Foul counts (31.4 per game), yellow cards (313) and red cards (9) are all up this season, and the moot point is who is to blame. Over-zealous refs, or players and coaches determined to stretch the rules? Either way, what is not in doubt is that refs are getting stronger at controlling the game. How do we know all this? Because refereeing is getting more professional, and thus there is a lot more attention to detail. Chris Beath, Ben Williams and Jared Gillett all went full-time this season. They have a full-time coach in former NSL referee Eugene Brazzale. Every fortnight, they gather in Canberra for a two-day seminar when they review decisions, have self-assessments, recovery sessions and train at the AIS gym. Being full-time gives them clearer minds and fitter bodies, although as Wilson says: "Being full-time won't make them perfect, but it will make them better eventually." On the key issue of fitness, the pre-season tests conducted at the AIS will not be compared until the end of the season, but as a guide Beath and Gillett are now in the top echelon of Asian refs in terms of fitness. At recent testing in Kuala Lumpur, Beath was measured as the fastest ref in Asia. Certainly the Asian Football Confederation, and FIFA, regard our referees highly. Williams was given a knockout game at the 2014 World Cup. Beath has headed off to the Asian under-23 championships in Qatar. A-League referees constantly officiate midweek Asian Champions League games. Perhaps, in terms of Asia, only Japanese referees have a better reputation. And yet they are endlessly vilified at home. "There's natural friction between players and coaches and referees, we know that," says Wilson. "But there are ways of improving communication, of developing better understanding and better relationships now that we have full-time refs."

Just before Christmas, Williams travelled to Newcastle to observe a Jets training session. He spoke to some senior players, and sat down in front of a video with assistant coach Jean Paul de Marigny to explain some set-piece decisions. In an informal environment, away from the cameras and the microphones, there was almost a spirit of detente. Match day changes everyone, and everything. The challenge is to see through that and accept the truth. A-League refs might not be perfect, but they are actually getting pretty good.