There is no other way to view this.
It is my opinion that the 2022 NRL Match Review Committee has turned the game into a complete farce.
When the changes were made to the Match Review and charging process at literally the last second before season kick off, it did not auger well for what the year had in store.
Our fears have now been confirmed.
If the NRL are serious about being a world class organisation, producing the highest standard of professional sport, then it’s time for them to step in and remove the MRC panel members responsible for the ludicrous decisions that have plagued the first five rounds of this season.
I won’t hide from my bias.
As an Eels supporter, I’ve watched the foul shots perpetrated on Parramatta players over each and every round. I won’t buy into any conspiracy theories, therefore the reason for the MRC decisions over each of those weeks must be pure incompetence.
I know it has been done to death, but for the purposes of identifying the extent of the problem, let’s revisit the sequence of major incidents involving Eels players.
That tackle, that contact
Round 1
Sean Russell is rushed to hospital after suffering broken ribs and a collapsed lung from a tackle by Jayden Campbell. Whilst Russell is put out of action for up to 12 weeks, the knee slide tackle from Campbell faces no on field action and is then defended, yes defended, by the MRC. It’s an extraordinary response.
Round 2
Corkage fee on the way
Mitch Moses is tackled after kicking the ball against the Sharks. It is a horrendous tackle that flips him over in the air but Wilton remains on the field. He later accepts a one match ban. Moses is also subjected to a knee slide tackle from Jesse Ramien after scoring a try. He receives a corked leg and has been playing with his thigh strapped for the last three weeks. There is no on field action nor any charge laid.
Round 3
That shot (Courtesy of Channel 9)
Nelson Asofa-Solomona delivers a swinging arm to the head of Makahesi Makatoa. He is third man in and the pair had been involved in a running battle for the previous ten minutes. No penalty, no sin bin, and only a Grade 1 charge. The rationale for that charge is that Makatoa fell into the tackle. Seriously!
Round 4
Somebody say KFC? (Image Foxsports)
Dragons forward Blake Lawrie applies a classic chicken wing tackle to Bailey Simonsson. The incident was reviewed by the bunker and everybody, from commentators to spectators and probably Lawrie himself, expects the sin bin. Not only does Lawrie avoid that, he isn’t charged by the MRC.
Round 5
Nothing to see here (apparently)
Tom Opacic is hit across the jaw by Patrick Herbert then wrestled by the head to the ground with no consequence. Then in the Titans second try, Nathan Brown is clearly pushed in the back by Will Smith, causing the three way collision between the Eels players. Astoundingly, this was given the all clear.
And now the greatest farce of all.
What Junior Paulo faces defies belief.
The collision with A J Brimson was clearly shoulder to shoulder, with Junior coming in with an arms wrapping motion.
“It’s my shoulder!”
A J Brimson immediately signalled that his shoulder had been hit and injured. To his credit, he further indicated the hit to his shoulder as Junior is marched. Yet the bunker found direct contact to the head.
The whole situation then spiralled into the ridiculous when the independent doctor ruled that there was no head injury to be examined. That’s right, a man of Junior’s dimensions was ruled to have made direct contact to the head yet somehow there was nothing that a doctor needed to assess.
But wait… here comes the hold my beer moment.
Junior Paulo has just been charged with a careless high tackle, and the consequence is either a one week suspension with a guilty plea or two weeks if he contests the charge and loses.
Hands up anyone who feared this event was on the horizon?
After weeks of what seemed like open season on Parra players, we all probably knew that one of our blokes would cop both a sin bin and a suspension against all reasoning.
Under normal circumstances the Eels wouldn’t roll the dice at the judiciary. And given what we’ve witnessed this season, who could blame them for being gun shy?
I have zero faith in the bunker’s ability to rule on foul shots, and the MRC’s charge process is a circus.
The evidence is clear and supporters of the game deserve better.
Eels forever!
Sixties
Open season on the Eels as per normal – after all we can afford it we get all the 50/50 calls and the rub of the green every game…. right!?
MRC is a joke – no consistency and farcical commentary
Exactly!
I wish seeing this didn’t make me angry. I wish I had faith in the referees and judiciary because I’m so sick of complaining about them. I just want to enjoy watching the Eels play great football.
Don’t we all mate!
Can’t add or argue with any of this. As I said previously, as a fan, I’m lost.
The incidents and the footage speak for themselves. There is little interpretation needed, which is what makes it so infuriating.
Agree with all this 60s. I think your point re bunker and MRC is spot on – it’s not a consipiracy against us, it’s just consistent incompetence. We’ve had plenty of decisions go our way too I think (eg Maka hit one of the Bromwich brothers high and got away with it). But with the benefit of being able to watch everything over and over again, these processes have no basis for failure, yet somehow they do.
Exactly Mick. I am less infuriated with the on field ref. Its a tough gig, and even though I’ll fire up over some matches (see Riff finals match) there are no excuses when the benefit of video review is considered.
sixties as you would know I posted a reply to a blog a couple of weeks or something ago in regards to refs and the way the game is falling to, or words to that affect in other ways.
As I said then I was not watching or posting much owing to the way the game has descended into a greater farce than in the past. The way things are broadcast and adjudicated these days are not even close being controlled by professionals, not that I believe that has been anything new in the past either, but the decent has picked up pace after last nights farce in penalties and the like.
The game known as rugby league, with the officials is far worse than labeling it as a farce, and the crowd figures show that even with quality team matches and good attendances it is getting less at each match owing to its failures.
The charging of Junior of that shoulder tackle against the Titans player is another step down the farce ladder, after the game, and what I have listened to and saw, during the game, all those on the field, in the boxes and on the TV, with commentators all declaring it was a legal hit and did not deserve the penalty and consequent sin bin, yet today its now an illegal head high tackle, for me, this has to be a challenge with the Match review committee as every area outside of that group and that of Annesely have disagreed with the charge and have all indicated it was a legal tackle, at shoulder height.
For me it will be a total farce and betraying of a player who made a legal tackle by all those who have been on the media’s have all said it was a legal tackle and the 10 minute sin bin was also not deserved.
I am very close to tossing the game in the gutter and maybe it will be washed away, I have had as much as I can take.
I can’t argue against your anger Colin because I was feeling similarly last night. I found it difficult to celebrate the win, such was my anger. And now with Junior being charged, it’s the height of absurdity.
I believe that Jnr and the club should go before the board, and plead not guilty of a head high tackle, he also needs to have a decent lawyer with him from the club to defend the tackle, with all the TV experts all saying there was no head high tackle, and use those experts as witnesses to the absurdity of the the charge.
Surely all those experts could mount a big case for Jnr and the charge as to their comments at the game.
Jnr = Not guilty of the charge, club and all to back him.
That’s exactly how I feel about it. I think he could win . If there was any head contact the poor guy would still be in gaga land as sixties alluded to. I don’t think the nrl can afford to see a not guilty plea dismissed in this case. The solomona high shot was obvious and I’m left to wonder if he was treated lightly because he ended up acquiescing to the game on his covid injection stance.
The NRL have seriously underestimated the resolve in our team. We don’t fold or implode as we once did. There is a bond in this team and they will hate the injustice. You can already see we are much better in attack this year as compared with last.
The boys and fans are not stupid. We, including the players all know what we are seeing. If we are angry I can only imagine how the players feel.
I don’t think it is inconsistency as that would mean some decisions go in our favour. They don’t and I am not talking about on field decisions. On field referees are human and make decisions on the run. We will get calls in our favour and against. The bunker and MRC have no excuse. They can take time to get consistency. The NRL is full of people who played and had rivalries and long standing hatred between clubs and hence the ‘ inconsistencies’. How the hit to Opacic went completely unpunished on the field, by the bunker and by the MRC cannot be explained away by a mistake. What they all made the same mistake? They had the restart to check it, Gutho protested. They all saw it and decided to ignore it. Sometimes the truth is very simple.
Yes Junior will miss this week as he will not get a downgrade the NRL won’t allow that to happen and that is unfortunate for such a great clubman to miss our 75th birthday game but all these ‘ inconsistencies’ will add to that fire to win. That burning desire might just be that extra one percent we need.
Should we win this year it will be great. The added benefit will be knowing that a few people in the NRL will hate it and that will make my smile a little bigger.
I had forgotten about this being our celebration game! That’s not good from my perspective. Shame on me! Let’s contest the charge
To think that Junior will get the same punishment, more if he fights it, as Thomas Fledger who got charged with 3 offences, and a fourth penalised on field, in his first game back from a lengthy suspension last week shows how ridiculous the entire system is. Who would think that rushing through untested systems could cause problems?
The problem is the system and the people who oversee it. The solution is to replace the people who allowed the system to come into being. The problem is the people who are responsible for overseeing the judiciary structure will not fire themselves. We can only hope that Mr Bennet and Nik Politis come to hate it because then the MRC will change immediately.
Unfortunately it won’t change anytime soon. It is sad and will destroy our game.
Unfortunately you are probably correct Shelley
Good point re Fledger. 10 in the bin. x4 on report… All the one game…. And stays on field. That is ridiculous. We should just go down the AFL path and remove sin bins and send offs. Just deal with things post game. I might email the Chief…. He seems to listen to ‘the fans’. Things would at least be consistent. 😜
Apropos to our 75th celebration I was very happy to hear Brad Arthur saying in the post game interview that he was encouraging the players to enjoy and celebrate the titans win. I’ve not heard that from him before and I think it would of been music to the players ears.
I think these decisions (actually non-decisions) by the MRC against Parra are the results of Parra not contesting a single charge or BA not complaining on the officiating. He might have his own reasons for that. But sometimes there are instances you have to let them know what you think. Just look at Holbrook, they got 8-1 penaltyin their favor after saying something about the refs last time around. Coincidence?
I have no faith in the NRL’s management at all. They couldn’t manage an ice cube to melt in the Sahara Desert. I have absolutely no faith in the referees or the bunker or the MRV. We have been coping & putting up with illegalities for years & yet we don’t whinge like other clubs. I noticed with interest that Holbrook didn’t say anything about all the decisions 100% going the Titans way throughout the whole match. The Titans must now be one of the ‘BIG’ favoured clubs now. It’s amazing how fast he shut his mouth when the shoe is on the other foot.
I believe that Junior being charged by the MRC was done to save face for the incompetency of both the referee & the bunker. I wait with baited breath for Annesley to justify all the on field decisions including the two Captains Challenges, which, by his own mouth, should have been no only disregarded they should have attracted a sin binning. The referees & the bunker totally ignored their boss and exercised their ineptitude like sheep in headlights.
The NRL has descended into total farce & they will be the architects of their own demise.
Harsh but fair calls
Well said sixties. Can we call Brimson to give evidence? This one is farcical. Also with the Mahoney knock on sixties, if the ball hit his hand, went backwards or straight down, hit his leg and was projected forward…is that a knock on?
BDon, I’m not sure about the technicalities of that, but we cannot have a system that allows deliberate penalties. The rule was designed to have specific circumstances which permit a challenge. Will we now have deliberate penalties after all missed knock ons? The argument that the Titans tactics got the right call doesn’t fly. There are many instances where the play doesn’t stop so there can’t be a challenge. The challenge is meant to be about the incident that brought about the stoppage.
Deliberate infringements should be sin binned. End of section.
Rewarding them is plain nonsense.
BDon, I’m pretty sure they won’t allow Brimson as a witness. A similar thing happened a year or two ago, the recipient of the “illegal” hit contacted the charged players club to say he didn’t do what he was charged for but the MRC/ judiciary wouldn’t allow him to be a witness. I think Luke Patten is head of the MRC, the same Luke Patten who was put in charge of the bunker and had to be replaced because of his incompetence.
The NRL just need to enforce the rules.
The captains challenge can only be used to challenge the ref’s decision. Not things leading up to them if they are missed by the ref.
Alternatively the ref does not award the penalty so play is not stopped and no challenge can be lodged.
As you say Rocket, if the rules are enforced, and processes are followed, there should be very few problems with the challenge.
Because we never fight or contest a charge we get classically bullied. If you don’t stand up against a bully you get what you get.
You’ve got to laugh….
Are they cross-eyed the MRC…
Wait…hmm.. may be 1 is
Still bearing the grudge of losing in GF qualifier…
I keep trying to forget that match mate!
i was going to write a large reply to this but ive narrowed it down to one respected persons statement on an mrc decision , on 360 a few rounds back james hooper commented to greg alexander , yes its within the rules but is it fair, brandys reply , fair ,fair whens rugby league ever been fair !!! If where upset now wait till annessly comes out with his latest cover ups , a ref sitting in judgement on his own comrades , its the equivalent of the milat family on the jury for ivans trial , but in fairness nearly everything wrong with our game goes back to the administration off john grant and todd greenberg , i have faith in vlandys but it will take time , might mention according officials and patrick herbert back slams are ok again , hes been doing them for a while again !!!!
I remember when Junior copped a 9 week ban for something similar.
Called it rag doll tackle , seen dozens since but no suspensions i think since juniors, the back/head slam was outlawed ages ago but patrick herbert has been at it for seasons now , i give up , fix it vlandys because annessly wont !!!
Sixties….. Never thought I would have a picture of you frothing from the mouth…. Now I do…lol. I agree with all your sentiments. I don’t watch many other games so cannot really comment if other teams are receiving the same treatment. Although, today I watched Sharks Tigers game and a much worse tackle than Juniors (I think it was a sharkies player) and was only in report….. The froth definately sprouted from my mouth. I say parra should challenge as the neutral doctor did not pull the player from the field. How can we lose?
I thought the same. Then I remembered our track record when we have challenged.
Totally agree with what you have said sixties . Parra 100% have to fight this. Unfortunately over the last how many years Parra has been reluctant to fight charges at the judiciary and BA has been reluctant to comment at press conferences, however last night for the 1st time we heard BA defend his player , I hope the club dies the same now and continue to do so . Sam
As BA said, Junior was tackling exactly how he has been taught/asked to tackle.
Well written Sixties! And hot damn I’d forgotten about the tackle Opacic! No bias here just facts. On a more positive note I love how much of a community of fans have developed around TCT. It is a credit to all involved!
Thanks Paul. We keep growing and appreciate all of our support.
Agreed – and a great compliment for the TCT team and what they have built with their comittment
Great example Sixties, and lets be clear some people like me have had zero faith in the game officials / CEO and MRC for many years.
The game has become a joke, its policy on the run and tbh its run by people who are more into the politics of the game.I have lost immense interest in the game for years and only follow Parra and not the game is many do.
Let’s also remember that whenever the CEO etc.talk about wanting kids ( girls being the PC push these days) to play the game, just remember the above incidents…and particularly the one by NAS. That was a disgrace and we are lucky Maka didn’t lay down to milk it like many others would have.
With concussion being in the spotlight these days too and all the supposed protocols to protect, where was Maka’s protection from the officials?
Maka’s protection didn’t exist mate, either when it happened or when the MRC examined it.
Milo you have said it perfectly. I also follow Parra & not the game. I lost faith in the NRL many many years ago because they are clueless about how to run a simple game. Parra has been coping the wrong end of the pineapple for as long as I can remember. I don’t watch any other game of RL other than our games because in all seriousness it’s lost it’s lustre to me. Any game which is decided by poor officiating, including the bunker, and not by the players isn’t a game that I’m interested in. It’s sad for me as I grew up loving RL & worshiping my heroes & wanting to be just like them. I’ve fallen out of love with the game & the people who run the game are responsible for that.
Saturday night was an old fashioned carve up. Terrible officiating. I still can’t believe that NBrown being intentionally pushed to the ground was overlooked in the Clark try. How more obvious could it have been that he was illegally prevented from making a play on the ball, which the interfered with other eels players trying to do the same.
Disgraceful.
Yeah, I thought I was seeing things mate. Blatant!
It’s these types of inconsistencies which will eventually drive people away from the game. How can you sit an watch each and every week knowing that the bunker and MRC consistently get things so wrong? The biggest farce however has to be how teams are now giving away penalties to challenge previous play. Is it too much to expect the laws of the game to be consistently adjudicated? If there is confusion in the rules, that’s up to the NRL to ensure they are crystal clear and that every referee and match official knows where the black and white are.
Absolutely mate. As the saying goes, it’s not rocket science. There’s no grey with the process of the captains challenge. They are making a rod for their own back by entertaining the deliberate penalties which force a stoppage. As such the stoppage should be adjudicated, not the prior play.
great write upSixties. what can we do as a 30k strong member group about it?
if the answer is nothing,are we supposed to lie down and take it for 26 weeks?
will first grade keep borrowing from cup, and Cup from flegg, because we don’t have healthy or experienced players to fill key positions? wheredoes this leave us come finals time?
player welfare is a joke according to the nrl if you have a blue & gold jersey on.
it’sclear every viewer has seen this week after week.
but is there anything we can realistically do,or just accept the system is against us or broken?
it was cear early on in the titans game Herbert was in a mood to hurt someone with those lifting slam tackles. when they went unnoticed, he proceeded to try and take poor Tom’s head off.
why? because he could,and the blind eye in the skydidn’t want whinging Holbrook to point a finger their way again
funny he never mentioned the 50/50 calls like the round 1 presser
as one of the top 3 clubs re; member bases, what can we do?
I wish I had an answer Dane. I am going to continue agitating and speaking with people, and I dearly hope that others do the same.
And the judiciary! I just had to post the picture.
Sorry…MRC
Too good!!!
It would be great to see the MRC come on one of the footy shows and explain the reasoning behind each decision. They never give an explanation and that confuses fans even more.
They are consistently inconsistent, or or inconsistently consistent. And that is as confusing as the MRC decisions
Nrl and annesly always protect thier own had couple of coaches running refs for a while i think , anderson and madge , couldnt get rid of them quick enough , to fair i suppose !