It’s the conversation that has been on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Whichever team you support, everyone is talking about the abysmal standard of refereeing for the past week.
There are so many problems with the way the modern game is refereed and these problems go way deeper than the Greg Inglis try (which wasn’t a try, if you live south of the Tweed). It goes way deeper than the Greg Bird tackle or the sin binning of Michael Jennings.
In fact, the problems I speak of actually have very little to do with Wednesday night’s game.
The biggest problem with the way the game is refereed is the overuse of video referees, which has consequently led to the underuse of touch judges.
Let me take you back to the 36th minute of Monday night’s game between the Bulldogs and the Roosters.
It’s the fifth tackle and the Dogs are on the attack. The bomb goes up to the right hand corner where debutant Krisnan Inu brilliantly stays in the field of play and bats the ball back into the hands of Frank Pritchard who grounds the ball.
The referee (either Devcich or Robinson) then goes upstairs to check the entire passage of play. The video ref then looks at it a number of times and (correctly) gives the green light. Four points, no harm done, right?
Wrong!
The touchie on that side of the field has the best view in the house (even better than Inu himself) of whether or not Krisnan Inu was in or out.
By not raising his flag, the touchie made the call (or non-call) that Inu was still in the field of play. Going to the video referee for this try was a complete waste of time.
There are instances like this in every single NRL game. It has almost become automatic that whenever someone scores in the corner (be it from a bomb, a well-waited chip kick or grubber, or just from great ball movement) the referee sends it upstairs to get it checked, even though the touch judge is usually in the best position possible to make the correct call.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not advocating that we get rid of the video referees. As it is such a fast paced game, there will always be a place for video technology in rugby league.
I actually believe that video referees should be able to rule on forward passes in the lead up to the scoring of a try. The video referee would have helped when Paramatta beat Manly 24-20 in round two 2010 and the match winning try was scored from a pass that went five metres forward.
The video ref was introduced into rugby league to prevent the absolute howler, not the 50-50 call. It was never meant to be something for referees to hide behind when it comes time to make a big call.
We need to encourage referees to back themselves and to back their touchies. While there may initially be a few more mistakes, this will ultimately make them better referees in the long run.
Reckon you can pick the winning team? Build your own dream team with Draftstars daily fantasy and compete on any match. For great odds on the NRL head on over to PlayUp. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Maika Sivo scored a hat-trick in his return to first-grade footy but a brain fade in the second half saw the Eels winger sent…
Gus Gould went from analysing Daly Cherry-Evans' fantastic pass to roasting Johnathan Thurston in a heartbeat, leaving his Nine colleagues in hysterics.
Nathan Brown has a new nickname. His Manly teammates were full of praise after igniting his side off the bench.
Tom Trbojevic admitted he might have overdone the sitcky spray after trying to plant the ball and getting the shock of his life when…
Maika Sivo was dumped to reserve grade and upon his return to the Eels against Manly, he scored a hat-trick before finding himself in…
Brad Arthur must wonder what he has to say to his team anymore. With his job under huge pressure, his Parramatta side managed to…
