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The NRL needs to overhaul their refereeing stocks

25th April, 2015
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The rules for touching referees need to be made consistent. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)
Roar Guru
25th April, 2015
53
1268 Reads

NRL referees have lost all credibility. They seem to get worse every year and in 2015 they have hit a new low.

The needless penalties, the constant stoppages, the endless delays for unnecessary video referees and stopping the game because a player is staying down for a penalty that is not even given.

And after watching a memorable Anzac Day match, I have decided that the current crop of NRL referees are not up to first grade standard. If they are the best we have, then the NRL has some serious work to do.

The crap calls from Saturday’s game went against both sides. The two most notable efforts came in the second half – the Dylan Farrell no try and the Dylan Napa ‘high tackle’.

Gerard Sutton, the top referee in the league, needs to get his eyes checked. To miss the Farrell try was one thing, but the penalty against Napa for his tackle on Euan Aitken is unforgivable. Roosters captain Mitchell Pearce was even heard to tell Sutton “not even heavy contact is a penalty”. And he’s 100per cent right.

Too often these days players are getting penalised for nothing. The thing that really irritates me, though, is that even though it was on the biggest screens in the Southern Hemisphere, the penalty was still given and Napa was still placed on report.

The Dragons kicked a penalty goal, and those two points were all that separated the two sides. It probably does justice for Farrell’s no try however. It was a tough call to make from as far away as the refs were. But when you consider some of the bullshit they go to the video for, it is stunning to think that it wasn’t reviewed.

I’ve only focused on this one game, but there have been plenty of other stuff-ups. Just look at Round 7. That round was marred by a seven-tackle set and a five-tackle set, the unofficial cancellation of the send off.

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I miss the good old days of Bill Harrigan, Tony Archer and Tim Mander, who refereed the game well.

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