Officiating remains a black mark on the NRL

Yes, amazing how so many of us seem to realise that we have a major problem with rules and the video ref, mainly because he is following rules, or is just plain blind. ? Is it the tv screens, they keep saying they have black and white TV's, :) they seem grey to me. And Paddy above, no i am not blaming the refs for alot of the stuff-ups, mind you they call alot of backward passes forward. Maybe a coach call or captains call can sort that mess out, but again, the people running the game seem to be making huge stuff-ups, like rewrting rules without wondering about the negatives, or concenquences. That knock on rule, or torso, or knock the ball loose and play on after that is nothing short of the biggest load of bogs bullocks i have ever witnessed. They ought to get the guy who changed this rule, take him out the back and give him a good bullocking. :) Made our game look like a amateur code. Any forawrd pass can be let go, and if a try results from it, a easy captains call will fix this, so the ref cant rule on a forward pass, but he can if the captain asks for a look at this very problem. Look fixing things in rugby league is easy. I dont know who is running the game, a blind man and his dog, a honey monster, who, the Muppets, maybe even the wiggles, some clown, is bozo dead.

Totally with oikee on the Greg Inglis origin try, i turned it off after that. Just saw GI got a successful downgrade for dean young hit. 3 weeks is a fair cop. Original charge was over the top. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.

Wow. Another one of these articles. It seems like everyone loves getting on the soapbox and telling us how bad the refs are. They are such an easy target. It's just not even interesting to me anymore. If my following of the media is right, the standard of the refs has been dropping every year since I was born. If I listen to Brian Smith and Des Hasler correctly every week, their boys have ridden on their own success, never getting a favour from the referees, and when they lose it's more than likely that some terrible calls went against them and cost them the game. I find it hard to believe this is the case. The problem for me lies in the dynamic between players and refs. If the refs stopped calling people by their first names, and the players and coaches took some responsibility and stopped yelling at the refs and let them think clearly maybe there would be less wrong decisions. Unfortunately the poor players don't like being "talked down to by the official." In my view they need to suck it up like rugby players do. Calling the refs' performances disgraceful and baffling is so easy. Move on when a call doesn't go your way. Or put a whistle in your mouth, get yelled at by everyone every week, get told that was the worst performance ever, every week, and see how easy it is to make the right call 95% of the time.

You are so right Adam. The weekly abominations that paying rugby league fans have had to endure in 2012 is nothing short of a disgrace. You can bet your house on at least one(normally more) refereeing decision a week that has robbed a team of 2 points. There is no broad spectrum antibiotic for this multi-faceted, highly complex problem either. Sacking Bill Harrigan wouldn't fix it, although he is a twat. Unless we take the human out of refereeing, there is always going to be an element of error. But i guess we all expect a minimum standard. The shambolic displays on offer this year have done little more than alienate the fans from the game, and make us the laughing stock of other football codes.

if the nrl continue with the two ref system i have a suggestion. one referee does the first half then rotate for the second half that way the controlling ref for each half will have full control i believe this will help with consisteny issues

The unfortunate part about this whole fiasco is that there are so many issues it is impossible to come up with a blanket solution. The ARLC have a huge job getting this right and in my opinion the best approach would be to have a huge overhaul of the complete system. I'm talking about starting with the role of touch judges right through to the judiciary. Yes, there are many issues in between but this is killing rugby league. The honest mistake here or there can be lived with. The constant clanger that appears time after time, game after game has to end. Unfortunately the MRC and Judiciary only add to the circus that the clowns wearing pink are running. Tinkering here and there will only make things worse. Enough with the band-aid solutions. If John Grant gave Gallop the flick for his "reactive" management, maybe he should line the MRC up and give them the same treatment after this week. Its time the all powerful commission actually took some control. The game's players, coaches and fans deserve it.

So why do the refs have it for the Roosters then ?

Grounding the ball for a try is so very frustrating. It used to be control of the ball, then they started allowing the torso try, then as long as there is downward pressure, doesn't matter about control, and now as long as there is no seperation. The more this area is complicated, the more mistakes that are being made. If the ball is bobbling on the ground and you can't dive and put your hand on the ball, then No Try. It's not that difficult.

Mate - I'm not even sure it's POSSIBLE to knock the ball on over the line any more. I've seen some absolutely bizarre ones this year - DCE against the Storm at Brookie, Uate against the Tigers in Newcastle and, yes, Inglis in the Origin. You're right. It's a terrible mess at the moment.

Try being a Roosters fan, I'm no conspiracy but wowee this year we have been on the wrong end of some huge calls. It is too regular to be a coincidence.

The officiating has been well under par this year; it's not secret the standard of games have dropped as a consequence. Look, the on-field referees have a harder job officiating as they have to make spur of the moment calls in the heat of battle. I am more disappointed with the video referees; they have all the time in the world to make decisions by slowing down replays etc. Despite the assistance of technology they still make contentious calls- especially the put-downs: separation officially means nothing.

I disagree. I think the officiating would improve with less referees. The increase in the number of referees has hampered their development, and no one is solely responsible when mistakes are made.

I agree totally that the obstruction rule is becoming too contentious. It must be made black n white. I dont mind obstruction plays personally, if a defender doesnt watch the ball properly then he's a duffer. But in general terms RL is a very hard sport to officiate, its fast moving and the refs have tough angles to make calls. So the fans must lump it OR have 7 referees and more video officiating if they want a perfect game...the NFL has 7 refs. Thats right, seven!

Like every one else whats getting me crankier than normal is the inconsistencies. Everyone has seen chicken wing etc tackles let go game after game so why now is Burns facing suspension? I suspect its because it is Burns and not Lyon or Smith, If they were fair dinkum there'd be half a dozen guys facing the same suspension. Burns and Inglis both deserve serious suspension for their high shots, Burns will get one but inglis wont cause its Inglis.

Agree Will, the obstruction rule needs tweaking. Here is one rule they have to fix, and it is destroying the fabric of the game and the way people veiw the game. It is getting me so frustrated i want to throw my TV out the window, i am blowing steam out my ears every time i watch the 20 video replays they have anyhow to look at this dumb, dumb decision. A rule they recently introduced by the way. :) Yes, a new dumb rule. It happened to Inglis in Origin, the ball dropped forward because a player lodged it loose. And it happens quite often in scoring tries, a defender comes in and lodges the ball loose, the player then fumbles the ball forward and then regrounds the ball. ? The rule should be no try, no matter what happens no try. They can work out eother a scrum to the attacking team, a line dropout or whatever, but still it should never be awarded a try. He lost the ball, end of story. Dont have a dogs breakfast visdeo replay after replay trying to sort out this mess, (because that is what it is, a mess), just call it lost ball, the defending team knocked it out, and then the attacking player scored, so it is a scrum to the attacking team. It is so simple to fix, i will stop yelling at the TV, all will be good, life will be back to normal, well normal in my world. :) That might not be normal people.

It is a perfect time to put on some ads. They want extra ads, while the guy in the video box is woken up from his slumber, go to a ad. When you come back, do as they do in American Gridiron, have a guy announce the decision and explain and show why. I cant understand why the people running the game cant do this, change it. Why do we have to wait until the end of the year to get things done, people get agro during the year. I get agro every week watching the same old stuff-ups. :)

They have to sort out the obstruction rule. It's becoming a farce.

The main problem is video ref + judiciary. Both have all the time & angles in the world and are as consistent as a pregnant chicks mood.

Tigers players holding the opposition down and not being penalised. Forward passes that are not forward being called, then they call a forward pass to the other team to make up for their mistake. (Cronulla game last weekend, they had the young rookie ref Peranara). The Judy all over the shop with suspensions, Inglis shot simalar to other high shots but charged differently. Burns charged for a chicken wing while every other chicken wing has gone unpunished. Rules brought into the game this year that caused massive contravescy in the origin game, yet no one has bothered to fix this dud rule. I seen the same rule nearly aspplied to a try in the super league game. The guy had dropped the ball cold over the line, the guy tackling him had touched the ball so the ref was going to award the try, even though he dropped the ball, because the tackler had touched the ball. Are they mad, dont they realise how ugly and horrible and amatuer this looks on television replays. He has dropped the ball forward, then regathered it and you are calling this play on. ? Like i said weeks ago, we need the Oracle to stand up and come forward to run this game, with Harragan running the refs into the ground, and fools running around changing rules without realising what a mess they have caused, along with the Judy( punch and Judy show= judiscary) inconsistant and clueless really, the gaME IS LOOKING LIKE A DOGS BREAKFAST. Apart from that the season has been very entertaining,. :)

Their is few things that leave me bewildered with the pink fairies this year ,,,Cam Smith who has been doing ankle twists ,,chicken wings ,,crapple tackles and not so much as a slap on the wrist ,,and some far worse,, in my opinion than Burns..The inconsistency is the thing the fans hate the most,,,, i think if the new commish and the MRC are serious things have got to be the same for every player,, and not just for what seems to be the protected few ,,,it shouldn.t matter how high profile they are ,,but thats what it looks like ...playing favourites !