The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Anderson happy with Origin refs

Roar Guru
6th June, 2013
6

NRL referees boss Daniel Anderson says he was satisfied with the decision not to sin-bin Paul Gallen in Wednesday’s State of Origin opener.

The NSW skipper was put on report and will miss Cronulla’s clash with Melbourne on Sunday after catching Nate Myles with a flurry of punches in the Blues 14-6 win at ANZ Stadium after pleading guilty to a grade two striking charge.

The incident on the stroke of halftime led to a melee between players from both sides but referee Ashley Klein opted not to give Gallen 10 minutes off the field.

Myles said he was not upset by the decision not to punish Gallen for the incident at the time and Maroons coach Mal Meninga said likewise, with NSW coach Laurie Daley calling it a great Origin moment.

However, Meninga changed his tune somewhat 12 hours later saying the Blues captain was lucky to stay on the field.

“It shouldn’t be part of Origin really, it should be a sin bin at least,” he said.

Anderson said he was pleased with the overall performances of Klein and Shayne Hayne although he conceded Gallen and Cooper Cronk were fortunate to stay on the field.

Cronk was penalised for failing to allow James Maloney to get up and play the ball after the five-eighth had a made a break for the line.

Advertisement

“These games are difficult to referee as there is a lot at stake for both teams,” Anderson told AAP.

“There were two possible sin-bins, one from Cooper Cronk for a professional foul on Maloney in the first half, but the adjudication was not to put him in the sin-bin.

“In regards to Paul Gallen, he was put on report, he was penalised and the match review committee have dealt with it.

“Although we don’t condone striking in any way, I am comfortable with both decisions.”

Meninga said he would be in contact with Anderson before game two and the former Parramatta coach said he would welcome the dialogue.

“I thought we had a solid performance from the refs given the need to enforce the game, they were largely invisible which is what you want,” he said.

“Nobody is really talking about them today.

Advertisement

“We will provide a pretty extensive valuation to Mal and Laurie on our perception on how the game was adjudicated.

“We do it for every game, for every single coach in the NRL.

“Some of them up to 50-60 lines, some are easier than others. It’s pretty transparent and covers both teams on the same piece of paper.”

Anderson is yet to make a decision who will be in charge of game two but said he didn’t expect the furore to make it harder to officiate.

“Game two will be difficult because there is a lot at stake,” he said.

“But that is always the case in Origin. Players will always be competitive and it’s up to the referees to see the game run properly.”

close