Let me paint a picture for you, fellow Roarers. It’s Thursday night, and like every other avid NRL fan, I’m desperately looking forward to this weekend’s games (despite being an Eels fan and having long since come to accept that the 1980s aren’t coming back).
So, I’m on my laptop, and suddenly I think, ‘I wonder who was awarded the referee positions this week?’. It is not something many people would think, but as a junior referee I was curious.
The Broncos versus Roosters game I saw first, and according to NRL.com, the referee will be Gerard Sutton, and the assistant will be Gavin Badger. Both highly commendable referees, and Sutton is arguably the best in the game right now (Ashley Klein and Luke Patten are the video referees, in case anyone is wondering).
Moving along to the Storm versus Cowboys match, I was personally hoping to see Jared Maxwell make a return, but wasn’t expecting it. Immediately I scanned down to the referee’s name, and my jaw dropped.
Referee: Matt Cecchin
Assistant referee: Ben Cummins
First of all, why is Cummins only an assistant referee? One would think that he deserves to be the main referee at this stage of the year and to see him relegated to assistant is quite disappointing.
More importantly, can someone please explain how Cecchin is still refereeing any game at all this year? And for goodness sake, why has he been given the centre position?
Just as the referees in charge of the infamous Sharks versus Cowboys game in 2013 were dropped for their performance in that game, surely ‘Chicken Legs’ Cecchin missed too many crucial calls to be awarded one of two centre spots in the grand final qualifiers?
When you think of referees like Adam Devcich, Gavin Morris, Alan Shortall and of course Maxwell, you have to wonder why Cecchin’s blunder last week is being rewarded.
Dan Eastwood, is there some criteria that I’m missing here? Am I completely off base or is this a legitimate concern?
(For the record, I would have had Cummins referee the game, assisted by Maxwell.)
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