Without doubt, being an NRL referee would be a tough gig. Every decision, every error, winds up under the microscope and you certainly don’t find social media sites that are dedicated to referee fandom. However, as well paid professionals in a professional sport, certain standards of performance should rightly be expected. Unfortunately, the whistle blowers have had a season to forget and their officiating has had far too much impact on the results of matches. In my opinion, the public has lost all faith in refereeing and the NRL needs to examine why.
Professionalism
This is, and should be, a massive positive. I’ve spoken to Gavin Badger at Eels training about the level of physical training that the referees undertake and it’s highly impressive. The anaerobic fitness of these blokes would be close to being on par with most players. Indeed, I’ve watched referees complete fitness work with the players and they easily match the work of the playing squad.
The NRL referees have their own training base at Homebush and complete rigorous preparation every week. They regularly referee opposed sessions at many NRL clubs which allows for great dialogue between themselves and the coaches. Remember, the coaches are trying to understand interpretation of the rules in an effort to minimise penalties. One of the interesting trials that referees go through at their training base involves being placed under physical duress whilst making simulated match decisions. It’s a high tech component of their physical and mental preparation.
In other words, these match officials are more thoroughly prepared than at any time in the history of rugby league. It leaves me perplexed as to why their standards are dropping.
Physical conditioning is a massive component of being an NRL referee.
The Technology
Does the NRL require technology? The millions of dollars spent on the “Bunker” put this innovation under the spotlight before a ball was even kicked in 2016. Promises were made about how the technology would speed up and improve the referral process, yet after an initial honeymoon period, the reality has proven to be anything but that.
The important aspect to consider is not the technology itself but rather how it is used.
The “Bunker” should be able to do what it promised to do. After all, it provides high quality, multi-angled vision of the game, the likes of which we’ve never seen before. As we watch replays of key moments, it’s not difficult for us to determine what the correct decision should be. Unsurprisingly, the “Bunker” officials do not seem to view the replays in the way that the fans do.
After viewing conclusive evidence the officials seem determined to view additional, unnecessary vision. It is baffling as to why it takes professional officials so much longer to make a decision than the average punter would. Without question, this is the most frustrating aspect of “Bunker” referrals.
The bunker warms up for a Parramatta try referral.
Why does this process take so long? Watching the multitude of replays, it’s easy to get the impression that the prevalent philosophy is to find a reason to not award a try. This mindset flies in the face of the old “benefit of the doubt” approach. Over-analysis of decisions is not part of the fabric of rugby league and any fan will be quick to remind the NRL of this fact. Double movement calls are not meant to be based on slow motion vision. Obstruction calls are not meant to reward poor defensive decisions. Yet that is what review officials are basing their opinions on – and it’s wrong!
Should We Dump The Technology?
Definitely not! After all, without the benefit of technology, some of the most spectacular NRL tries would never have been awarded. To most fans, the answer is obvious. The “Bunker” should be limited to grounding and touch line decisions only.
When the video match officials get involved in obstruction calls it is done without any feel for whether players have been truly obstructed. A technical obstruction is often ruled even when it is obvious that no advantage has been gained by decoy runs by the attacking team.
Even more frustrating for the fans is the inconsistent reversal of on-field refereeing decisions by the “Bunker”. When these video officials selectively change particular errors it opens the door to questions being asked about the integrity of their work. A missed knock-on is overruled in some instances and completely ignored in others. Why? That’s a legitimate question to which there is no answer.
The Impact
The reliance on the video official to correct missed calls is the root of the current crisis in refereeing.
Referees are far too content to let obvious calls slide in the hope of video review and this has a significant effect because a review can only occur for a potential try or during a break in the game. If a significant indiscretion is missed but then the play extends past the next tackle, no review is possible. Are we now at the point where coaches will prepare players to allow themselves to be tackled after an error simply because they know a review can’t occur?
Ashley Klein – Don’t get me started!
Of course, the flow on from this is the lack of decisiveness and confidence in the refereeing ranks. The referees are allowing far too many plays to continue in the expectation of a review. This is baffling, given that so many officials have been involved in the game since childhood and would have a natural feel for the game that they are now ignoring.
What’s the Answer?
I believe that we are now at the stage where there is no quick fix to this problem. It has become second nature for the referees to have no second nature in their decisions! Look at the failure to penalise the Panthers for having three markers in front of their posts during golden point against the Warriors. The referees made the conscious decision to ignore what would have been an instantaneous decision at any other moment in the game.
It has also become habitual for the players to encourage reviews. The public are tired of watching players charge over to demand that the video official becomes involved in the decision. These attitudes need to be eliminated from the game and it won’t be solved overnight.
If the NRL restricts the involvement of the “Bunker” to grounding or touch line try decisions, it could take another 12 months for referees to re-establish their confidence, or for teams to stop harassing the whistle blowers to review every decision. Therefore, the sooner that the changes begin, the better!
It is also important to eliminate the ridiculous interpretation regarding referees being touched. For Tyson Frizell to be suspended for an incidental touch on the referee is seriously absurd. The intent of this rule is to prevent disrespect or intimidation of the officials. I challenge any official to explain how a touch like Frizell’s would have even been noticed by the referee. How can that sort of contact be deemed an offence in a sport where incidental contact is commonplace. I’d much rather see an end to players getting in the referee’s face to demand video reviews.
Sam Thaiday demonstrates a bad touch.
A Final Thought
The NRL cannot afford for the referees to become the focus of the media. Unfortunately, without immediate change, refereeing influence on a game will only come under increasing scrutiny. Too many conversations are now about ridiculous decisions rather than spectacular contests. It is not where our great game should be.
The NRL must act now to restore the confidence of all stakeholders. The crisis is real. Let’s hope we don’t regret it on Grand Final day!
Sixties
All images courtesy of the NRL
Good comments 60s. This should be sent to referees boss as a template moving forward that they should adopt.
I was going to bring up the non penalty in Warriors-Penrith game but you beat me to it. Refs should back themselves more, yes they will get decisions wrong but as long as it is not blatant, so be it. They are human after all. As regards the bunker deciding to be involved in onfield decisions, they should either stay out completely or become involved in all decisions. And finally, if the ref asks bunker to check grounding, that is all they should check, not whether onside, or obstruction, or anything else. The ref has already decided everything beforehand and if incorrect, so be it!
Thanks for the response Glenn. I think we would all be able to live with some errors. The problem is that the on-field refs have by and large lost the capacity to make decisions because they are conditioned to go to the review should a try result. By eliminating the review from all but grounding or touch line decisions, the referees can regain their feel for the game.
Nice piece 60’s. I’m just gonna come out and say it. Perenara is a cheating flog, and deserves to be dropped.
The Game last night would have been a lot closer (ie I’m not saying there would have been a different result – buy who knows?) If we had some quality refereeing.
We deserved better, the game deserves better.
We do deserve better mate.
Yeah he has a problem. You should see the angry look on his face as he walks into Pirtek before games. Breaks my heart before the game even begins. Heard him through sportsears say to Mannah last night night, who had approached and spoke to him respectfully, “as I have already told Arron don’t question my integrity.” So both captains thought he was more than bad.
I was with a mate who goes for Souths. The only bloke in the ground that would have been swearing more in frustration at the refs display would have been 60’s. Made me realise that its not me being one eyed. And he doesn’t want the eels to win and get more competition points than his team. My Tigers mate reckons his team definitely got the rub of the green and he volunteered that comment.
Out of bad things comes good. I thought the team showed great discipline to wear that display. They have come a long way. In previous years you could have added some back chats and dummy spits to last nights game. They just got on with the job as best they could with what theyve got. I left the game proud of another team performance
Well said
1 day that will learn how to ref games evenly
Sneds you legend, back from the dead, pop back over to 1EE mate your missed.
Good write up 60s, maybe we need to start poaching and training some union refs haha, things are pretty bad.
I’ve been trying brother snake but I see fongy is a mod n I’ve been baned for life I think. Bahahahahaha
Just do a blog letting ppl know I’m doing fine. N death is not a good place to be.
P’s snake I’m sure fong will be happy to no I’m alive n well.
Rev, fongs missing you mate, everybody’s missing you buddy, Fongs not a mod so he hasn’t banned you, if you were banned just join again with a temporary email/hotmail or join up from a new computer, mate all that stuffs water under the bridge, your blog was only just voted blog of the year lol, you’ve gone into legendary status on 1ee lol, seriously mate come back.
hope your well mate.
I’m fine thanks brother snake. I’m on a iPad. Can u find out who banned me n if they can over turn there ruling plz my son.
I’ll try see if we can be lucky enough to get your ban overturned mate
Apologies and thanks to the TCT gang and 60s for using this thread to communicate with mick, its the only place i would have ever come across him.
Mick your account no longer exists mate, you’ll have to rejoin, fong sends he’s regards lol, he’s missing you and wants you back,
cheers n take care mate, see you back soon..
Brother snake I saw your write up. God bless you my son.
Plz tell ppl on 1eyed they got my death thing all wrong. It was meant to be the end of my real name and the beginning of the rev on 1eyed so I had to think of a way to kill of the Snedden name n start a fresh with the rev. P’s I’m deeply sorry I brought up bad memories of your mother in my kill off. I meant no harm so from the bottom of my heart I’m truly sorry. Sixties I would like to thank you n your awesome crew from this site to let me communicate with snake.
Mick water under the bridge, theres nothing to forgive, see you back soon mate n take care.
Once again thank you to 60s and apologies for turning your thread into a social thread,
cheers
60’s, as usual good post & thoughts.
What we all have to realise is the simple fact that we cannot expect the ref or the bunker to get things right 100% of the time, question I guess is the inconsistency of the decisions both on & off field & it applies in the same games where one team will get the benefit nearly 100% while the other side not even the 50/50 calls go their ways. Reading a live blog last night it was painfully obvious that the eels were being refereed differently to the Tigers, some of the decisions with the Dragons & Dogs game were atrocious, same with the Thursday night game.
What concerns me also is that the touchy’s basically only get involved with fights, line calls & to make a call on tries, I forget the last game I saw when one of them with raised flag run on field for a report. There is a lot of things that they should be watching & make calls on then is happening now. Can they not pick up a strip or tackler who knocks the ball out of the attacking players hands, especially in multiple player tackles? It would be hard, but I think there are ways to resolve that after seeing some of the close up vision when a penalty or scrum is called.
Once the lost ball is called with the usual scrum to be set, the bunker should be able in the time that it takes to set the play back in motion to have a close look at what has caused the dropped ball, in the past they have found a swinging arm, high tackle, hands etc awarding a penalty to the attacking side, why not at each incident, in the past few weeks I have seen several good close up videos shown in the bunker of such things. There is enough time before the countdown is up to feed the scrum prior to a penalty being given for slowness in the feeding of the scrum.
If the bunker cannot get things absolute as in the Bronco’s case with the double movement, it becomes refs call, & that’s how that should have been called. There was a call from the bunker on Friday night that ruled against an obstruction & try awarded yet a try the eels scored against Penrith the other week for the same thing was disallowed & penalty given, & only difference was the side of the field & teams that were playing.
Our coach had not bagged the refs over the year, & as you mention elsewhere that the eels are one of the clubs that has refs regularly at training, something that could help all clubs is if the refs were able to attend the training days & have a discussion regarding any problematic decisions the coach felt happened against them. Most coaches would appreciate the chance to do so & have it talked about in a friendly environment, would help the refs, coach & players alike, to resolve the problems, especially if, say last nights ref was available on the first days training to attend the eels training as well as the opponents training as well.
The refs would then report back to Archer & be discussed with all the refs when they get together.
I have heard a couple of coaches say that they see no point in having the refs at their training as they believe it doesn’t give any extra help in understanding decisions made on the playing field as against at training. They can play perfectly at training & not get a penalty but get pinged on game day for things ok’d by the ref at training.
Well put together piece 60’s. The bunker & technology are state of art so no issues there for me. The interpretations by the men behind the technology is most worrying and very inconsistent. Unfortunatlley the 1st step in fixing a problem is admitting you have a problem and Tony Archer beyond belief of many a seasoned professionals comes out and defends the indefensible. Until this changes the inconsistencies will remain a blight on this great game.
Hmm v interesting read.
Perenara has issues I think with us and it shows often. Just hearing him talk to players is a comcern, and it is more than the body language. He seems v arrogant.
I saw the vision of last try ad couldn’t believe they weren’t penalised for pushing our player off the ball….
I thought I was being biased but even mates with me who saw said same….
V concerning about the poor standard of the game and low table teams cop it.
Makes one wonder what the issues are, as he played two seasons at the eels before finishing off with a year at the Sharks.
I thought he refereed pretty fair against us in the past, but that was last year & before the dramas that has befallen us this year. What I have suggested would be denied by the NRL & Refs in general that we are coping the dirty end of the rag owing to the removal of points this year & we are being made sure that we cannot compete in this years finals. Many opposition fans, media jerkos & the officials of other clubs have said it would be unfair if we played in the finals as our roster had been assembled illegally & unfairly, but it would be strenuously denied by all & sundry.
In the past it has been said that BA has purposed not to bag the refs & when he has problems he writes to the refs for explanations/clarifications over any dubious calls in a game, would imagine a letter would be sent off following the wests game, would love to know the replies.
Over reliance on technology is only part of the issue, things like missing a knock on while trying to feed a Scrum is more concerning imo.
The issue with the refs is having a negative effect in junior league. I have been coaching junior rugby league for the last 10 years & one thing I have noticed is the attitude of parents & onlookers towards the junior refs. These people get to the game on Saturday morning & all they talk about is the crap ref calls from the NRL, this then ends up being the junior refs issue as the rugby league public hate the refs. NRL player’s are held accountable for their actions because they are roll models for the young players of the game but the NRL refs are untouchable & this is causing massive issues for the junior refs. This is something the NRL will have to address soon or the bigger issue that is already starting to happen will destroy the game at a junior level & that is we won’t have any junior refs.
In regards to the thought that Perenara has it in for the Eels, Just look at his face when he is talking to the Eels player’s. He hates us. Can someone take the whistle off the refs & let the games play on. All they do is look for another reason to blow a penalty when they should have to have a good reason for giving one. Instead we get, In my opinion this is a penalty. I thought we had rules in this game that must be adhered to but they can change them whenever they want to depending on who they want to win. WE ARE NOT THE FOOLS YOU TAKE US FOR REFS. I was sitting with a mate that follows the Roosters while watching the game against the Tigers & he sat there saying, You guy’s are getting smashed by the refs. Everyone can see it, every week we all complain & every weekend it’s the same garbage from the whistle blowers.
The refs are all going backwards, some of the decisions out there has been outrageous. I thought Henry Perenara was one of the better refs last year and starting this year, but he also has gone backwards.
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