The standard of refereeing this year has been, in my opinion, atrocious. There is no better example of this than the refereeing this weekend.
We’d be here all day if I decided to look at every single game so far this week. There have been howlers in nearly every single game played so far.
I, however, want to talk about Sunday’s game between the Titans and the Dragons; a game in which both teams have the right to feel hard done by had they tasted defeat.
St George Illawarra were hammered with a 12-6 penalty count. The Dragons’ discipline was poor no doubt, but it wasn’t two times as bad as the Titans’ discipline. The Titans got away with plenty of things that the Dragons got penalised for.
Apart from the lopsided penalty count, the decision to penalize Nathan Fien for doing exactly what Jonathan Thurston did on Friday night – stealing the ball from the play-the-ball when there was no dummy-half present – was baffling.
Shayne Hayne defended the decision by saying that there was no acting half when Thurston did it. Well acting half or not, I fail to see why a perfectly square Fien cannot dive onto the football when the dummy half is too slow to pick it up.
In addition to this, there was the decision to ignore a blatantly offside Dave Taylor as he intercepted the ball while defending on his try-line. It literally happened right in front of Shayne Hayne’s face.
Fortunately for the Dragons, this decision was cancelled out by an equally deplorable decision five minutes later at the other end. I am of course referring to the decision to deny the Titans a try for obstruction. This was one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen.
I probably wouldn’t be writing this article if games like this were isolated incidents – but they aren’t. Games like this happen all the time, and for a competition like the NRL, it simply will not do.
The professionalism of the players needs to be matched by referees. And I’m not just talking about big decisions.
The little things are being officiated poorly too. These are things that don’t create front page headlines but are important nonetheless.
So without further ado, I would like to present this list of issues that need fixing:
Strip or knock-on?
We desperately need some consistency on this issue.
When a player drops the ball in a tackle or stuffs up the play-the-ball, it seems like an almost completely random decision is made as to whether the ball was stripped or whether the ball was lost. It’s like a lottery.
The ball comes loose and everyone pauses to see whether we get a long or a short whistle sound. It’s ridiculous.
I have seen plenty of correct rulings on this part of the game, but plenty more of them have been incorrect. Many times I have seen loose carries get rewarded with a penalty.
I’ve seen good hits dislodge the ball, only to have the tackler penalised for a strip.
On the other side of the coin, I have seen many strips go unnoticed.
Daniel Anderson needs to sit down with his senior referees and quickly define what is a knock on and what is a strip. This massive inconsistency is not up to NRL standard.
Forward passes from dummy half
This problem is not exclusive to dummy half. Plenty of blatant forward passes go unnoticed or ignored by referees and touchies in general play as well.
But the forward pass out of dummy half has become an epidemic.
From Cameron Smith to Cameron King and everyone in between, every single dummy half does it multiple times a game, and very few of them are called up on it.
There really isn’t much else to say on this issue, especially because it should be one of the easiest things in rugby league to officiate. Just get it right. It’s that simple.
Obstruction
This is a tricky one. Obstruction is an issue that is very open to interpretation. It’s a naturally grey area, so consistency is going to be hard to come by.
It is for this reason that I do not want to go into obstruction rule interpretations or anything of that nature. I merely want to make a suggestion.
Keep it on the field and out of the video refs box. By allowing video refs to rule on obstruction, we are creating a whole new type of inconsistency in that ‘obstructions’ that would normally go unnoticed in general play are only being ruled upon when a try is scored.
This applies especially to tries with a lot of build up play. Let’s say a halfback runs behind his decoy runner and the ref doesn’t award a penalty.
The halfback passes to his five-eighth, who gives it out the back to the fullback, who throws a cut out ball to the winger who is in for a try in the corner.
Too many times we have seen exact situations like this occur, only for the try to be denied by a video ref who is overturning an obstruction ruling made by the on-field ref earlier in the play.
Whether the ref made the right call or not is irrelevant. The fact is that had a try not been scored the original ruling would still apply and it would be play-on.
It is for this reason that video refs are not allowed to rule on forward passes. The same should apply to obstruction.
All NRL games are important, but if these sort of inconsistencies can happen in regular round NRL games then there is no reason that they can’t happen in Origin, finals, or even a grand final.
With Origin right around the corner, Daniel Anderson needs to fix all of this up. I would hate for my beloved Blues to be robbed blind again, just as I would hate for them to win at the expense of Queenslandbeing robbed blind.
I admit that being a referee is a tough and thankless job. As a former football ref (not at a high level so the pressure was a bit different to that which Shayne Hayne and company face every week), I get that perfection is unrealistic.
There will be mistakes. Referees, contrary to popular belief, are human too, and they are certainly not perfect.
But perfection is not what I’m asking for.
The fact is that the current standard of refereeing is not acceptable. Too often we see games marred by poor officiating. At this level, it is simply not good enough.
Matt
Guest
April 18 just watched the Cowboys Manly match. How much does manly pay referees to make wrong decisions. -Miscounted tackles last year which got Cowboys out of final. Now allowed Manly to throw forward passes and obstruct defence to defeat Cowboys. Seems like Manly always have beneficial decisions no matter who they play. The refereeing this year is a farce.Get rid of the incompetents and get some referees and linesmen that can at least see infringements
oikee
Guest
Yes, your pretty right. The problem is the refs themselves. Some have not got a clue, for the feel of a game. Instead of penalising on the fifth tackle because someone held on for a one-tnth of a millisecond to long, why do they not just warn them. This will save a penalty on the fifth. When they do this 3 times in the first 5 minutes, the contest is killed. teams cant defend for 20 to 30 tackles before even seeing what the ball looks like, what colour the ball is, then expect to still be in the game. This is killing the contest. Teams are spent and not even seen the ball. The refs are clueless, some of them. These are the caribbean refs, the refs who will be spending their holidays on Packers Yacht in the Bahamas'; hehe. I waited 10 minutes the other night before some teams even see the ball. Why would refs want to ruin the contest by penalising teams out of the contest. Something fishy there, damm caribbean refs.
Myles Stedman
Roar Guru
Keep obstruction out of the video ref's box? Keep out of the video ref's box as much as possible, full stop!
Adam
Guest
What has changed since last year? WELL! I emailed the NRL this week and asked why this is happening. Basically the NRL told me they are trying to speed up the game, and i have that in writing. But! How do you measure speed and what point do you speed up the game? Should the refs run onto the field faster or should players tie there shoe lacers faster. Its obvious they are just trying to to speed up the ruck! BUT by doing this you are forcing the refs to make extra decisions and alot quicker, which is why we are seeing a blow out in the penalty count. Problem 1. When is a tackle a tackle? the refs dont know so MORE PENALTIES! Probem 2. Markers dont have a chance to get square because of ridiculously fast play the balls MORE PENALTIES! Problem 3. Defense's dont have a chance to get on side, so MORE PENALTIES! Problem 4. Defense's trying to slow the play the ball by holding the ball so MORE PENALTIES! On top of the excessive penalty count we are getting a really bad end product, I cant watch a game any more. Because the game is becoming one dimensional, just a whole heap of one up stuff because teams are so focused on super quick play the balls. They have stopped looking sideways which will eventually eliminate the need for halves. Wingers are shooting out of dummy half and getting an easy 30mts, this should never happen. It has ruined the essence of the game. So is it the refs or is it the rule changes? If the NRL cant see this problem, well I think their eyes are painted on. And they need to stop listening to channel nine commentators. Although these guys achieved a lot as individuals, that does not mean they are experts. The best coaches and the best minds in the game were not the best players! And that is the same in 99% of other sports. Individuals greatness is achievd by finding one way and becoming good at it, where great coaches and great minds are looking at everything and are constantly searching for answers. THEY ARE OUR BEST ANALYSTS FIX THIS PROBLEM BEFORE YOU RUIN THE GAME!!!!
LEWIE
Guest
Back in years gone ,when the game only had one referee and two linesmen ,a mistake was made ,it was only one person who was crucified for the error and most likely droped for the next game.Now we have extra custodians (video experts and pocket umpires ) they are guilty of making a tough call ,they are making a balls of it week after week.Is it all too hard to get it correct.?There is more controversy now than in the old days.
gc tiger
Guest
Klien is the worst. I have noticed in so many games that he is one sided. Always goes with higher profile teams. I heard him tell the other ref at the 46 min of this weeks game "let this one stay down longer". Then the following set penalized the warriors for slowing the ball down. He was just influencing the game to how he wanted it I think refs are over analysed by the commentators most of the time. They don't realise how fast everything is going down there and that the game has too roll. But agree this years standards are even worse.
Bazzio
Roar Guru
3) fix it
andrew
Guest
mate they weren't robbbed there was a pretty obvious forward pass to score one of the warriors tries, the call for morris obstruction was right because johnson was milking it and went up front to tackle morris and then slipped and as for the ennis falcon that's karma from johnsono forward tap last week
Nathan of Perth
Guest
1) Find someplace with a standard of refereeing you find acceptable 2) Ask the supporters of that league if they find the standard of that league acceptable
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
Just on Saints, what is with Soward handing the kicking duties to Chase Stanley? I mean for God's sake either take them all or take none. I reckon in his head Soward is already at Penrith. He had a few good weeks while we were on that 3 game winning streak, but since he signed the Panthers contract he has again stopped taking on the line and he is now just a passenger. I used to think Fien needed to be dropped - I still do actually. But by crikey at least Fien can say that he's trying. I reckon Fien to 6 and Drinkwater to 7. Or perhaps put Quinlan in the halves. He's a gun and we need to find a place for him somewhere.
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
Gallop is not the answer. This crisis is not Dave Smith or John Grant's doing. Daniel Anderson needs to fix this. If he can't then Smith and Grant must find someone who can.
Daniel Szabo
Roar Guru
I know there will always be errors. But this weekend we have just witnessed a round of footy in which nearly every game was marred by multiple bad errors, and big errors too. The Dave Taylor intercept right in front of Shayne Hayne's face is not good enough. What makes this error so bad is that it came from the game's most senior whistle blower. There is no excuse for not blowing a penalty when Taylor caught that ball. The same goes for video ref errors. With on-field refs there will always be mistakes. But for video refs I don't think that perfection is too much to ask (at least for issues such as onside and grounding of the ball - obstruction is more open to interpretation, but even still there is no excuse for disallowing the Titan's try after the Taylor intercept). Video refs can view the play as many times as they like from whatever angle they like. Since they got rid of benefit-of-the doubt, perfection is not too much to ask from video refs.
Bazzio
Roar Guru
IMO the problem lies solely with the fact that the vid refs can't make calls during general play, while the calls they can adjudicate on are overly restricted. They are either ref's, or they are not. But the NRL has them as 25% ref, 75% spectator. Were vid refs given discretion to make calls on all facets of play during play, the game would be better for it, especially if there was a system whereby something like a short, loud horn-blast + flashing light on the score-board made public the fact that an on-field ref had missed something while the vid ref puts the replay onto the big screen to verify it so everyone can see. I'm pretty sure that were such a system implemented, refereeing would suddenly and drastically improve.
Luke
Guest
+1
The Barry
Roar Guru
For the stripped / drop ball rulings you often have 4 or 5 bodies involved in the tackle - it's tough to see what happened. Then you look at 6 angles of slow motion and say "there was a hand in there" Same for forward passes - it depends where the refs are standing to be able to determine a forward pass. Very difficult for refs. I'd probably rather see them let the line ball ones go and pck up the blatants than have half a dozen marginal forward passes pulled up. The consistency is the hard thing. I've been to games where the defensive line (both teams) has stood in front of the ref for 30-40 tackles in a row, then all of a sudden the ref blows someone offside and you're left thinking how was that any different to the past 50 plays ? The Titans obstruction call was one of the worst calls I've ever seen...no excuse for getting that wrong.
The Barry
Roar Guru
mate - are you kidding. They got penalty after penalty in the first half for nothing and scored twice from blatantly forward passes...
old codger
Guest
Solution do away with the Video Ref. If the Field referee makes a Blue and he knows it. You can bet he will even it up at later stage of the Game. Also it speeds up the Play.
Mauzzie
Guest
Great article mate. I agree with many of your points - particularly the one about being play-on if a try isnt scored. In your particular scenario, if the winger is tackled, and then next play a try is scored, then the obstruction query of the previous tackle becomes obsolete. Meaning the referee has said play-on, no obstruction, no infringement. If the try is scored by the winger however, it can be referred upstairs and it gives opportunity for a controversial decision. Sandow's penalty right in front of the sticks to give them a 7 point lead over Brisbane was a howler. Wrong decision, which ultimately cost Brisbane the game
Dragons Forever
Guest
Saints were dudded big time. If Hayne was any closer to Dave Taylor they would have been rooting each other. Saints penalty, 16-8 and the obstruction debacle never happens ( which occurred from that set of 6 ). It's obvious that refs will not blow a penalty in the last 5 mins if the game is on the line. Titans constantly off side especially with the last attempt by Soward. I'm sure It sounds like sour grapes but it is so frustrating week after week. Lastly, Soward get ur goal kicking together, that's 2 games in a row ur boot has let us down
mp
Guest
warriors were also robbed