Matt Cecchin and Ben Cummins have been cast into the hot seat this weekend, with the pair announced as the referees for the 2016 NRL grand final between the Melbourne Storm and Cronulla Sharks.
NRL general manager officiating Tony Archer said Cecchin and Cummins had been the competition’s premier whistleblowers during the 2016 finals, and stated the duo were thoroughly deserving of their appointments in the biggest game of the year.
“They refereed as a combination in the finals series last year, including a preliminary final, and are a proven combination in big games,” Archer said.
“The best officials will referee the grand final.”
The appointment is Cecchin’s second for a grand final, and caps off a strong recovery for the referee, who was on the receiving end of plenty of criticism early in the year after a controversial decision in Round 5, where he decided against sin-binning the Roosters’ Aiden Guerra. Cecchin was not appointed to any games in the following round, but the NRL said the veteran official was not dropped.
While Cecchin is the lead referee for the decider, he doesn’t have as much grand final experience as his partner Cummins, who is already veteran of three grand finals.
As for the two teams’ records under the referees, it is likely that Cronulla will be the happier of the two. The Sharks have won all four of their meetings refereed by Cecchin, while the Storm have won three of their six.
Cronulla won two of five games officiated by Cummins during the season, while Melbourne haven’t lost under him.
2016 NRL Grand Final referees
Lead Referee: Matt Cecchin
Assist Referee: Ben Cummins
Senior Review Official: Bernard Sutton
Review Officials: Luke Patten and Ashley Klein
Touch Judges: Jeff Younis and Brett Suttor
Standby Referee: Gerard Sutton
Standby Touch Judge: Chris Butler
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