Harrigan admits to Slater try error

Horatio - Please don't assume you know me well enough - you don't ... I'm fully aware that the try, was in fact not ... And, like most, instinctively knew that right off the cuff, and if you ask Billy Slater, he'll agree ... The days when referee decisions, like stouches remained on the field, and, I'm yet to see any league player from any NRL team, who would put their hand up to argue with that referee decision, if it was there team - In the case of the Manly v Storm game it would not have changed a thing ... On referee's, I knew one once ... His reputation in North and North West Queensland is reasonably well known, but not always for glory ... On reflection, although hesitantly, I'd say he was one of the very best that grassroots footy produced, in a hard nosed sporting city far from "the big smoke" where he and his family resided during the 60's, 70's and 80's ... I assume he would have been a handy player in his day, and I suspect a fairly good athlete, prior to his referee stint, and as a parent he would have offered fairly sound advise to his daughter, his son, and to a lesser extent, his son-in-law, who where both excellent league players and athletes for my mind, both proudly represented NQ towns in the Foley Shield competition ... Verbal abuse, and what most in this day and age would refer to as personal attacks and bullying was common place in rugby league, back then, week in week out, when things didn't go the players or their fans way, and of course referees where affiliated with one clubs or another ... Taking on the task of a Foley Shield referee was no mean feat, being it was regarded as the "hottest" competition, outside of Brisbane ... But this man prevailed, not just because of his love of league, and although not recommended for the light hearted, it was the next best thing for a rugby league stalwart, with a healthy respect for good health and fitness ... The real reason for athleticism and a demeanour of stone, was to enable them to "run for cover" when the "pot shots" included missiles ... As is why, recruits where and still are few and far between - for love nor money ... The most important ability of a ref is to be insistant, persistant and consistent, with a good dose of humility and humour, and have enough gall not to throw the towel in, regardless of personal attacks, sprays and gossip - which goes with the role ... The days when a single solitary man decided what was and what wasn't right or wrong, with out the luxury of a side-kick or video referee are long gone ... But having the crowd and media accusing the "man in the middle" as being one- eyed, hasn't changed - :-( ... This referee I speak of, just like his peers today, took his responsibility seriously, so much so that he also wrote the league column in the local newspaper each week ... And, where I worked on the front counter for a lengthy period in the 70's and 80's and where we chatted and shared our thoughts on the games, the results, our respective clubs and our players, as well as softball, of which his daughter and I participated, but referee decisions where never part of the equation ... Noel, decided it was time to retire, and although I'm sure he wish he could continue, those who never stood in his shoes, or put their hand up to replace him, and found it easy to find fault, rather then praise, didn't complain ... When he came into the newspaper office to write his last post, we had our usual friendly chat, and I handed him a poem I'd found, aptly named - "An Ode to the Referee" ... Well it won't surprise me if you're totally bored by this lengthy retort, but hang in there, there's a twist - some 20 years on from that time, his grandson drove from North Queensland to Brisbane to sign a contract with North's and commenced playing at the Melbourne Storm in 2003, representing his club in more than one GF, and represents his state of Queensland, and Australia ... Yes, he is the grandfather of rugby leagues greatest #1 to ever lace up a boot and is currently touted as the best player in the game, albiet the opinion of those who don't and won't agree ... Perhaps you might now understand my stance and point of view about those who don't show the referee's respect and simply won't give them a bit of slack or consideration, but relish in giving them "a gob full" of four letter words and acqusations ... After all Horatio, it's not exactly life and death, it's sport ... So cheer your team on and hope they win - that's all they'll ask of you !!! Go the Mighty Melbourne Storm - Go Billy Slater !!!

Every NRL expert said it wasnt a try and if such a decision costs the Storm a premiership this week then you will be the first to complain. So the herald reports all the facts then- I'm just surprised that the Sydney Herald and Age have gone from bagging league all the time (perhaps when News was involved) to now writing puff pieces lauding NRL and hiding errors. My favourite was the NRL putting out the draw every 6 weeks and putting on a game at the canberra Stadium when the Brumbies were playing. The SDT bagged them rightly but the Herald buried the subsequent change of time for the game at the bottom of another column 3 days later with no mention of the error. This suggested to me that the free press we love to talk about is no more and that NRL advertising in the SMH depends on good press and why wouldnt it with the newspaper business model in tatters...

Well, thank God for that, and need I say unique - a newspaper that decides to leave the other "rags" prattle on about something that can't change either the result, records or what prevailed, considering the Melbourne Storm had no hope of losing, just as Manly know they had no chance of winning ... If you want that type of tripe in your life, log on to the SDT - That's the facts - That's life, That's Rugby League ... And, has been for over 100 years and will be well into the future - Referee's are human too and just like all NRL clubs, coaches and players they too break the rules, make mistakes, and move on - Some not as successful as the Melbourne Storm though !!! And I certainly don't expect perfection, especially from this year GF referees - Go the Melbourne Storm - Purple Pride - Braver Hearts - No fear, No foe, No fail - this season is ours !!! And, I'll except it, and continue to support my team - win or lose - regardless of the circumstances. :-D

Nostra As predicted there is nothing about the Storm video ref decision in yesterdays or todays Sydney Morning Herald. Amazing...

There should be no benefit of the doubt - period ... The rule should be, if the ref can't call it and goes to the video referees and if they can't determine either yes or no, after 3 views of the play, then it's - NO TRY ... In my opinion, that would be the fairest decision ... no team gains points and no team falls behind, and therefore it will eliminate the issue and any dispute of whether a referee's decision decides a game - The score remains as it was ... "even Stevens" fella's and fans - Play on ...

oikee,You have some very valid points re Harrigan. Unfortunately as in life a fair percentage of jobs awarded. Whether it be business or sport the PERSONALITY get`s the gig.Not always the BEST man. Do i need to give examples ? Dinasour he may be , although hes been involved in the game a far while ( must have leant something or two ). Please have no preconceptions here , i`m no fan of the bloke . But being a referee of any discription would be a prick of a job. Familarity breeds contempt, was once said. And no greater than on a football ground. We have required refs since the game began,because as humans we constanty break the rules. But the ref should`nt be there touchy feely .PENALISE the offenders,speak with the captain, and get on with game.

I think only 1 thing needs to be added to the interpretation of the Try rule.. HOld on to your hats, it;s quite left field idea but i believe the player scoring the try needs to have"CONTROL" of the ball. Get rid of this seperation garbage, If the player doesn't have control of the ball, No Try. QUite a simple rule really.

It appears it was released late at night to avoid the newspapers hardcopy. Its on their digital news but not the hardcopy so it will be interesting to see if its there tomorrow...

Just get rid of the video refs completely. The only consistency in the video refs decisions is that they get it wrong so often. I think people can handle the on-field referee making mistakes during the course of the game so go back to no video ref with one controlling referee and his assistant watching the ruck. Sure there will be some incorrect calls made but it surely can't be any worse than the system that's in place at the moment.

The whole loose carry, stripped, two in the tackle, over the tryline, before the tryline is sucha bizarre mismatch of ruless no wonder there is controversy...Gould went on about this before and he appears to be muzzled by Nine...

That is right, it was dislodged by the tackler. So this leaves the other silly senario, dislodged forward by the tackler, now according to the game it is play on if the tackler dislodges the ball. And this is where the grey area becomes even greyer, he did not dislodge it on purpose, but in the tackle. So now its 50/50 do i award a knock-on scrum, or play-on dislodged on purpose. Mate its a damm can of worms, a dogs breakfast that needs to be sorted,. The video refs should not be looking at this, as Gus would say. They have created a video ref nitemare by these rules. Why i keep saying, the rules need to be changed, modified, ASAP. The Torso also needs to be gone, only arms and hands are in play for grounding, and any ball off your torso is a knock-on, not play-on. You adjust a few minor rule changes and the video refs wont have to look at so many dud calls. The refs keep sending these dud calls to the video refs, i have only seen a couple of video refs straight off send it back no try to the ground ref. A lot of them start looking at the dogs breakfast(video replay), they get mesmorised by this dogs breakfast, then all of a sudden they cant take their eyes off this dogs breakfast. they watch it over and over, Wake up boys, your looking at a dogs breakfast, that is the clue. :) Dogs breakfast. I would even go as far to say, lets not call it Benifit of the dought, lets call it dogs breakfast. As soon as the commentators say it looks like a dogs breakfast, NO TRY. :) It really is that simple.

Yes Mr Harrigan has come out and said what most fans already knew , but we still had the keyboard Warriors try and defend the wrong decision ,this seems to be the problem to many interpretations for the one rule ..If you lose control of the ball over the line it has to be no try .The argument was that Foran had his hand in their and pushed it out ,so if he did do this ,what ruling should apply ??It seems its another grey area that has come to haunt the ref's again , for mine as i stated above lose control of the ball over the line no try !!

You can't remove benefit of the doubt though, Oikee, because you can't remove doubt. It is just a matter of who gets the benefit. Either way, the controversies will rage on. The two in the box hasn't solved things though, has it, when a third guy comes out and over-rules them? Personally I thought there was a lot of doubt about Slater's dropped ball. In fact there was little doubt it was knocked out, not simply dropped. What the interpretation is after that, is another matter.

No surprises here, i told everyone to lookout last week, Hamstead was back. Harrigon is a burdon to the game of rugby league. He is out of touch, out of time. If he is still running the refs next year, it will only keep proving how amatuer this game is, the coach call and other rules to the game should have been all sorted by now. Harrigon has made the game a joke. To prove my point, he thinks adding more people to the video box will fix the problems. ? It like sending the boys over the paraphats at Gallipolli, he keeps sending more and more in, they still have 2 tommy guns mowing us down Harrigon. How is the game ever, ever going to improve when you have persons like him at the top without a clue, no clue at all. Talk about loading the game, it will be that top heavy shortly, they will need to build a 30 thousand stadium just to hold the video refs. Come-on commission. do your job, get a CEO, first job, sack this fool, second job, fix the rules, no torso, no forward knock-ons, no fumblies, no benifit of doughts, no second chances. Is this really that hard to understand, is our game devoid of common sense. I am asking you out their the question, i already know the answer. Harrigon is a dinosaur.