The fundamental criticism people directed at Bill Harrigan in his time as referees boss was that he looked at things through a black and white frame.
His mantra was that to eliminate confusion he would make sure every referee adjudicated on decisions to the absolute letter of the law.
This is why he’s gone.
A referee needs to be more than a rugby league handbook personified.
The test of a great ref is that he or she has a genuine feel for the game, understands its core dynamics and makes decisions based on the reality of each play, not simply quoting a passage on a page.
When Daniel Anderson was appointed, the groundswell of positivity was enormous.
Coaches, players and fans were fed up of decisions that neglected to factor in any form of flexibility and common sense.
Anderson vowed, when he took on the position, that this notion was dead and buried. Common sense will now prevail on the field and we can go back to playing some good old fashioned flowing footy, free of the shackles of absurd interpretations limiting decoys and ball runners.
What a distant memory that appears to be.
Another ghastly decision in last night’s match between the Tigers and Manly has everyone scratching their heads, concerned that this rigid interpretation is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.
Last night Jamie Lyon, who was never in a position to stop the attacking play, came into subtle contact with a Tiger’s decoy and proceeded to thrust himself onto the turf with great force.
You see, the Jamie Lyons of the game are clever. They realise that accentuating that moment of contact will almost certainly deny the opposition a try, so really you can’t blame them (although to me it hardly seems sporting).
This hard line of refereeing only aids the cultivation of penalty pullers.
We will see a greater number of savvy players deliberately throwing themselves into decoys and hurling themselves to the ground.
When you think about it, if you are in no position to stop the try, it makes sense that players would give it a go.
What do they have to lose? There is no penalty for bad acting, right?
I have already noticed that defenders have begun change their defensive path slightly in order to garner a penalty for this.
Unless Daniel Anderson, who appears to have cornered himself with this already by saying that he definitely will not be changing the interpretation, decides that this is indeed ruining the spectacle of each game, we will have a huge quantity of tries disallowed this year, in exchange for soccer-like penalty pulling antics that would make Russell Crowe blush.
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