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Penalty counts: When did ill discipline equate to bias?

16th August, 2014
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Geoff Toovey is at the centre of the issues at Manly (AAP Image/Paul Miller)
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16th August, 2014
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Remember when NRL referees used be accused of blowing the whistle in favour of a side that was a little behind on the penalty count, squaring the ledger after checking with the man upstairs by using a secret code?

They did this, of course, so as to avoid the very thing they have been accused of ad nauseam this season: bias.

But if ‘squaring up’ was bad refereeing, how can a lop-sided count be unfair as well?

You can’t have it both ways. Yet an 11-3 penalty count isn’t considered a sign of ill-discipline, apparently it’s bias.

The Storm have always played a little too close to the line of acceptable gamesmanship. For years they led the way with wrestling, chicken wings and other dodgy tactics. The problem last week wasn’t referees, it was that the Storm should’ve beaten the Knights comfortably, but they didn’t, and Craig Bellamy needed someone to blame.

NRL refs are attacked for inconsistency, over-reliance on video replays, missing foul play, use (or lack thereof) of the sin bin, and a million other perceived problems.

But the penalty count is something that should remain squarely on the players and the coach. Complaining about the penalty count is the ultimate sign of a coach feeling the pressure and grasping at straws.

How about Geoff Toovey, a man who appears to have made complaining about referees his hobby? After Manly’s loss to South Sydney last week, the conversation should have been about the fact that the Sea Eagles finally had a worthy challenger, but Toovey refused to acknowledge the football that was played.

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Instead, he got mad at the officials. He pointed to the 10-5 penalty count in Souths’ favour, saying, “Someone has to be held accountable for that.”

I couldn’t agree more Geoff. Someone should be held accountable for that – you and your team of highly paid professional sportsmen, who have been taught since they were five to tackle low, and then get up once the tackle is made.

Of course, Tooves was strangely quiet back in March when his side was on the right side of a staggering 11-2 penalty count against the Roosters.

Speaking of the Roosters, Trent Robinson should take stock too. Was the Jared Waerea-Hargreaves sin binning against the Knights a little harsh? Perhaps. But was it the result of anti-JWH bias? No. Again, this was a case of a top team losing a game they shouldn’t have lost, and not knowing why.

Sometimes referees are terrible. Sometimes they make mistakes that change games. But if, as a coach, all you can point to is a lop-sided penalty count, that doesn’t mean the refs did a bad job. That one’s on you.

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