Another dark night for the NRL video referee

Really? I enjoy the Kiwi commentators but mostly for their amusingly biased call of the game - I actually tend to think of them as more 'waffling' though. Not that I consider bias a major problem, as long as it's not snide (and with those guys it generally isn't) I've never minded a commentator showing that they are a fan like the rest of us. It's just funny how 80% of the game is focussing on the Warriors and almost forgetting that there's another team, you can hear the cheering in their voices when their team is doing well.

I get what your saying, got to give them more leeway on a spur of the moment call vs the video ref with unlimited replays still making a shocker. However that pass was so ridiculously forward, it went further forward than it did laterally, that it's hard to imagine none of the on-field officials thought it worth calling back. Maybe I'm just cynical but I think they had it in the back of their minds that if the opportunity presented itself to give a questionable decision to Manly then it would take 'some' of the heat off especially if the match had ended up being tight.

Amen. Surely all league fans have suffered enough at the whims of Bronco Bill! Just get rid of him! His firing is long over due. He has demonstrated repeatedly over the years that he is either corrupt or incompetent and either one is NOT acceptable. He needs to be out of the game.

I don't know what you guys think, but, I find the comm entries from New Zealand far superior to ours. They tell the game as it is and don't 'waffle' half as much. At least Rabbits has been a little quieter about Hayne this last two weeks (THANK GOD)

That is a weak argument on the the league's behalf (this isn't directed at you, John, I'm just following up your point). What Australia needs to do is raise the standard for referees in this country across the board. The amateur idiots that get used week in and week out are inadequate to say the least. It was mentioned above that the NRL copies the NFL on everything, then they should copy them on their standards for referees. The referees in the NFL are all successful professionals-doctors, lawyers, CEOs people who make life and death decisions that affect peoples' lives and livelihood every day at their real jobs. Then on weekends they use that same professionalism and fearlessness and make the hard calls on the weekends at the NFL games. They get year round training, in the rules of the game, and the video technology at their disposal, and they all have to maintain a high level of fitness so that they can keep up with players as they run down the field (or at least get themselves into the best position to see the play. The standards are high but making the wrong decisions in the NFL can cost players or coaches their jobs, and can cost businesses, and gambling organizations millions of dollars. They realize that, and that is why only professionals who are used to dealing with that level of pressure everyday are allowed to do this important job. Clubs like to have powerful business men and women as club presidents or owners, those are the type of people that should be officiating the games as well. Raise the standards for the refs and touch judges and you will raise the level (and respect for) the game. People who are confident, and not scared, to make the tough calls.

Haven't seen this one, but it can it really be worse than the myriad ridiculous outcomes since this separation nonsense was dreamed up? Bouncing the ball/no control tries are now de rigueur, balanced out by the equally nonsensical obstruction rulings.

I reckon it's even worse that that mate. I reckon they wait until the dickheads on TV, radio and in the Daily Terror bitch about some element of the rules and then make random and haphazard changes without fully understanding them. In that way, the NRL is a lot like the NSW Labor Govt. And that is about as insulting as it gets.

geez to be honest i dont have a problem with the forward pass (let me explain), if the onfield ref makes a call in real time and makes a blunder then that i can live with it but when the Video ref looks at countless replays and still gets it wrong then thats the real issue.

Willy, its because nobody has bothered to look at the rules, they wait, they wait, until the game is on its knees, like they did the grapple, and then they decide to act. Not good enough, i worked at a company where we would look for accidents waiting to happen, and fixed them. This tired old game is so out of date, its amazing we are still in the running as a top 2 code. The video ref decisions are like watching a tired old man changing his pants. You want to tell him to hurry up, but out of respect you dont say a word. This game is run by tired old men.

I see they just dropped Harigan, porbably wants to go on Holidays now he made a motza on the game. ;) Why dont the video refs listen to the commentators at the game. They normally get it right , so listen to them while they are replaying the tapes, and make the call on their comments. ? Easy. And how often do you hear Gus saying, "if this is awarded, i will jump off the roof",, ? When they here Gus say this, award the try, so then Gus has to jump off the roof. :)

I agree, Hayne is a dirty dog and gets away with everything

Willy, come on mate, you must realise that Jarrod, Todd (Carney) and any other NSW player are the pin-up boys for NSW rugby league. I was watching the Roosters playing Cronulla the other nite, between Joey and Freddie, you would have thought the Roosters were the only team playing, Carney this, Carney that, hes better than Lewis Lockyer and Jesus combined. It makes you want to take a blue tablet. A team of nobodies shut them up, and i was watching how they shut Carney down, every player stayed in the line and nobody rushed up on him, he got hammered every time. The coach of the sharks is a very good coach, trust me, he worked this out and they all followed his instructions, all nite. Carney never made one break. No wonder our media feel as they can say what they like about rugby league, with idiots like these 2 making comments, anything goes. Netral commentators is needed, these guys are turning people away from the game, well its making me sick. Joey is bad, really bad for rugby league, i will say it again, get him off t/v and into coaching ranks. And take Freddy with him.

saw it once on the news this morning and it looked as though he'd lost control but the ball hadnt actually broken contact with him or if it did it had made contact again before touching the ground or another player so a knock on didnt happen so i gotta say i'm leaning toward a try for the moment. with these ones you have to remember that you don't have to have control of the ball when you ground it. thats just the rules (to allow people to dive on balls loose in the in goal etc). you just cant knock it on (see above for knock on definition). i'll need to see it a few more times before i can stick my neck out and say i would give it as a try so until then i'll chicken out of that but just keep in mind what the actual rules are and not what phil gould and others decide on the night should be allowed or not. i'm pretty sure they're even written down somewhere if phil felt like taking a look sometime. of course to continue my fence sitting theme i should say that i've never seen the written rule either so i could be wrong.

For Harrigan to then defend his decision after the match is simply inexcusable. The arrogance of the man knows no bounds. He simply must be shot at dawn.

My greatest issue is that the refs pick and choose the rules in which they want to enforce at the time, I hate seeing blatent off-sides at kickoffs and while teams are supposed to be defending their try line (wingers are often metres offside); scrum feeds into the lock's feet are common place, but if a tight-head ever happens the ref stops play and makes them feed it again; if dropped, the ball is magnetically is drawn to the oppositions try line by magic and is called a knock-on regardless of which direction it goes, which ironically is the opposite to farward passes; players walk off the mark constantly but markers are called "not straight"...need I go on. Refs are human and assuming they are not corrupt, mistakes happen in the pace of a game and players accept this - it is unacceptable however to come up with blatently bad calls upon replay by the 3rd ref. I reckon go back to 1 ref, 2 touch judges, and no video ref, the good refs will rise to the challenge and the bad ones can go elsewhere - oh, and lets tell the refs that they are not the players best mates, i hate hearing refs calling players by their names and occasionally nicknames -go back to numbers only, don't let the players talk back and earn back some respect.

Worst video ref decision in history, it was a shocker.

Oikee - I'm a mad Tiger's fan and even I thought Robbie Farah's "try" on Sunday against the Panfers was a complete joke. It wasn't even a difficult decision - dropped ball, scrum ten. Easy, easy, easy... Why do they keep trying to over-complicate these things?

Forget the on-field and video referees. The biggest disgrace in rugby league has been the inconsistent application of standards by the judiciary, with one set of rules for star players and another set for everyone else. It's gotten so bad that Jarryd Hayne has apparently been given the Roger Rogerson "green light" to do as he pleases. Knee someone in the head before a grand final? It's OK! He's Jarryd Hayne! Headbutt someone before an Origin? It's OK! He's Jarryd Hayne! There is some excuse for making errors in the heat of a game, but these things are completely unforgivable.

Phil Gould was right.. The process is wrong.. Bill was the best ref ever in my opinion, he would never have allowed that during his ref days But the way the refs are coached, the rules they are given shows how the current system has failed. Robert Finch..yep give back your NRL pass and your car keys, you cannot justify your job anymore!

Well that's a valid point and Manly should get more bad calls than other teams :-) but I'm a Dragons tragic and there's no doubt in my mind that he knocked it on. Funny thing is that throughout the years it has been obvious that Harrigan doesn't much like the Dragons, but I guess the old 'cement truck' incident makes Manly even less popular with the ego-maniac. I think the blatant forward pass (forward pass? it should have been a penalty for offside!) for Foran's try was an obvious square-up after the officials had a chance to review at half time and realise that if the game was close they were going to be hammered.