At last, the RFL have bared their teeth.
News of their decision to fine Hull KR boss Justin Morgan £4,000 after his outburst at referee Ben Thaler could not be more welcome.
And that's not because of any dislike of Morgan at all – it's purely to do with referees and how they are perceived within rugby league.
Generally, the man with the whistle gets a raw deal. How many times do league fans ask the bloke next to them on the terraces who’s reffing? And how many times do they follow it up with some derogatory remark?
Professional coaches moaning about referees is nothing new. It deflects attention from their own team's deficiencies.
But nothing turns off this jaded hack more than a coach blaming a defeat on the man in the middle.
For every one mistake a referee makes that may cost a team a try, that same team will no doubt have made 10 or 15 mistakes themselves. So why is it all the ref's fault? It's pathetic.
There are 27 men out on a Super League pitch at any one time. They're all human, so they'll all make mistakes. But, of those 27, I'd suggest the referee would be at the bottom end of the scale when it comes to the number of errors they make in a game.
I know of one Super League coach who told me a tale about going to watch a game with his friend. The coach was staggered at the amount of time and energy his friend spent watching and abusing the referee. "You're watching the wrong thing," said the coach. He was 100 percent right.
Rugby league fans are a bizarre lot. We've all heard incessant cries of 'gerremonside' – sometimes even before the game has kicked off.
Morgan's rant against Thaler will leave Rovers' fans deliberately watching out for their next game to be reffed by the young official.
It means even more people will be watching him – rather than the action – the next time Thaler heads to Craven Park.
Rugby league has so many positives going for it. It's the most demanding team sport on the planet and produces moments of extraordinary drama and excitement – but its obsession with referees is an enormous turn off.
It's hard to see things changing in the short term, because it would require a widespread culture change from fans who have been taught by their fathers and grandfathers that the referee is nearly always wrong, hopeless or both.
But at least the RFL have taken a step in the right direction.