Todd Greenberg has refuted Ricky Stuart’s claims there are too many voices in the NRL referees’ ears and declared the league’s bunker won’t be going anywhere.
But the frustrated NRL chief executive has vowed to ensure the match officials at the centre of Friday night’s controversial clash between Cronulla and Canberra would pay for their errors.
The ongoing fallout from the match will continue into a fifth day on Tuesday when appointments from this weekend are confirmed,
Debate has surrounded the bunker throughout the conversation following a fortnight of controversies, after Stuart labelled it as a “waste of time”.
Referees coach Bernard Sutton has insisted Friday night’s matter was not a fault of the bunker – as they were not told to look for that factor.
And Greenberg, who brought the bunker in during his time as the game’s head of football, said technology had to stay.
“It’s certainly not time to blow up the bunker,” Greenberg told the Nine Network on Monday.
“Technology is here. Technology is now in every sport. The challenge we have is the human element running the technology.
Greenberg also defended the voices of match-day referees coaches in the ears of officials during games, another facet of the game attacked by Stuart after the match on Friday.
“The reality is the head referee owns that space,” he said.
“They use the coaching staff as they want to use them”:
All eyes will be on Tuesday’s appointments, and whether the game’s No.1 referee in Gerard Sutton survives the axe.
Sutton was the head referee in Friday’s match, and put his whistle to his mouth but did not blow it after MacFarlane raised his flag in the lead up to Sione Katoa try.
Bernard Sutton told AAP on Saturday his brother had not seen the MacFarlane’s flag raised in the lead up to the try, and only lifted his whistle after his touch judge yelled “knock on” before he changed his call to “play on”.
Pocket referee Gavin Reynolds was also the official who overruled his sideline officials to call a Canberra pass forward in the lead up to what would have been a try as they attempted to mount a comeback, which the referees boss has since admitted was the wrong call..
And Greenberg said officials for this weekend had to be picked for this weekend with those poor performances in mind.
“Frustrated sometimes, really frustrated,” Greenberg said of his emotions..
“We’ve got to be getting those decisions right. They impact games, they impact livelihoods and we’ve got to get better.
“You can take it as read that tomorrow’s appointments will reflect some of that disappointment.”
“There has to be accountability across all the board, including me. You can expect there will be accountability tomorrow.”
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