Thanks for nothing Tony, your mob ruined the Raiders' season

It sounds like massive sour grapes, but the Raiders’ season had been continually torpedoed by poor and inconsistent refereeing in 2015 until it finally sank last Sunday.

A season that had so much promise has now been written off after yet another close loss.

Who’d be a referee? It’s an unforgiving and mostly thankless job.

While we desperately need people to become referees, they get treated so badly that attracting new officials is very difficult. So we can’t bag out the NRL refs, right?

Wrong.

That might be the case for the junior and lower ranks, but it sure isn’t the case for the NRL’s first grade officials. These guys get paid handsomely, have competed hard to get to the top grade, and have huge egos.

Just like the top players, they have to believe they are the best to get there and stay there.

These are not volunteers from the local club or youths trying to earn a few bucks on the weekend. These are full-on, competitive men who have fought to get their hands on that flag or whistle.

We bag out players when they stuff up, why on earth should the officials be spared?

Back at the beginning of this season Todd Greenberg made it clear that coaches could no longer talk about the referees at all in the post-match press conferences, saying, “Coaches and clubs have used referees to their advantage to deflect attention or steer the debate a certain way. Being critiqued by coaches publicly is not the way the game should be played and it attacks the integrity of the game.”

Des Hasler challenged the rule at the first opportunity and was hit with a $10,000 fine. His next move was to liken them to “He who shall not be named” – Lord Voldemort, the villain from the Harry Potter series.

But he was chastened.

Ricky Stuart obeyed the new rules after the Round 12 home loss to the Broncos in May by refusing to comment and leaving the press conference. He was then fined $20,000.

Stuart didn’t discuss the officials after Sunday’s loss to the Sea Eagles either, although he probably wanted to.

When Steve Matai scored a try in the fourth minute, it was from a repeat set signalled by the referees. However, Shaun Fensom clearly did not play at the ball.

Then in the 78th minute Brett Stewart scored his customary backing-up try to win the game for Manly. However, he was out of play at the play the ball and it should have been a penalty to the Raiders the moment he touched it. Daniel Eastwood’s superb article explained just how easy it is for an official to miss that call. I was at the game, directly in line with the incident and I completely missed it.

However, the resulting try meant that the Raiders’ already slim chances of making the finals were extinguished.

The following day referees boss Tony Archer came out and acknowledged the error, saying, “technically Stewart does not retreat the required distance.”

In spite of the importance of the try in the context of the Raiders’ season, it wasn’t sent to the video referee to be checked, even though Blake Austin’s try minutes before was checked, although it was a clear try.

“13,000 people saw Blake Austin score a try they had to go and double check, yet if we had have scored [like Brett Stewart] at Brookvale Oval, I can bet you they would be going to the video ref to check,” Ricky Stuart said to the Canberra Times.

Stuart also relayed that Archer had acknowledged that the referees should not have restarted Manly’s tackle count after the ball came off Fensom in the fourth minute.

But what stinking difference does any of that make? You can’t reverse the result. You can’t reverse the sickening, long-term impact on the struggling club by acknowledging your errors.

Ricky was actually quite restrained in his reaction, saying, “I feel the frustration of the players, which has been building up all season because it has been a constant occurrence all year to us.”

And he’s right, it has been happening all year. I can support Ricky’s assertion with multiple incidents.

1. Round 3’s 20-22 loss to St George Illawarra
In the 28th minute a Blake Austin try was sent upstairs and declared a double movement by the video ref, although realtime replays clearly show there was enough momentum to award the try near the sticks.

The Dragons win by 2.

2. Round 6’s 10-14 loss to Melbourne Storm
In the 40th minute Sam Williams put up a perfect bomb. With Jarrod Croker streaming through to contest the ball, Cooper Cronk blatantly ran into Croker and took him out. No penalty was awarded for the blatant foul.

Then in the 48th minute Cronk threw a forward pass from behind the 10-metre line to Will Chambers (no, it wasn’t backwards out of the hands either), which the refs and the touchies missed completely. Chambers performed a superb flick pass to Mahe Fonua for a try, and Cam Smith converted.

Storm win by 4.

3. Round 11’s 34-41 loss to Canterbury Bulldogs
After some Josh Reynolds magic got the Dogs out to a 26-point lead, the Raiders fought their way back into the match and by the 56th minute were trailing by just four points but dominating their opponents.

Replays show that Sam Kasiano then deliberately stripped Paul Vaughn, but the refs missed it and gave the Bulldogs the scrum, from which Frank Pritchard scored. The Raiders then drew level in the 75th minute but Reynolds won it for the Dogs with a superb field goal.

The Dogs win by 7 (scoring a try from a Raiders last-ditch ‘Hail Mary’ play).

4. Round 22’s 18-20 loss to Wests Tigers
In the 47th minute the Raiders were on the attack and a shallow bomb was put up. One of the Raiders chasers was blatantly taken out by a Wests Tigers player. The refs let it go, as David Nofoaluma raced to take a quick tap. The ball finds James Tedesco, who raced away to score.

In the 79th minute, replays clearly showed Robbie Farah strip David Shilington of possession in the tackle, though the refs missed it. What should have been a penalty shot 45 metres out directly in front turns into provocation, a head butt, a send off, and a Wests Tigers win by 2 points.

5. Round 23’s 24-26 loss to Manly Sea Eagles
Incidents as stated above.

Now, I know a whole heap of you will be thinking the following:
1. “I hate Ricky Stuart so it is excellent when he loses – I particularly like it when he gets mad.”
2. “There are lots of incidents like that in every game and you’re being extremely selective.”
3. “Sucked in Raiders. You are not good enough anyway.”

Yes, the hatred of Ricky is well established. And yes, there are lots of incidents in every game. For example, David Shillington probably would have been sin binned for a professional foul against Manly if such a bin existed. But of course it doesn’t.

However, in regards to the Raiders not being good enough, what makes sides good enough is confidence. Confidence comes from winning. Give the Raiders the two competition points from just three of these five games and they are in the eight right now on 26 points, with the Titans, Panthers and Eels to play.

Just three wrong or non-decisions have made a world of difference, and the impact isn’t just for this season but for the next couple as well.

Finals appearances provide four things that are vital to the success of an NRL side:

1. Exposure to a wide audience, which in turn can lead to more supporters and sponsorship.
2. More money generated by finals appearances.
3. Making the club more desirable for attracting and retaining players.
4. Vital big game experience for the players that helps them win future finals games and – hopefully – the grand final.

This crop of Raiders have been denied that experience and confidence in large part by crappy and inconsistent refereeing. The club has been denied money and status by the same.

As a result, Tony Archer’s admission of wrong calls on behalf of his officials means less than nothing. The only thing that would mean anything would be reinstatement of the competition points. His words actually torture the green faithful, the remainder of whose year is made up of ‘what ifs’ and prognostication about which of the rich clubs will sign Jack Wighton next season.

As I’ve said previously, video reviews need to be expanded to ensure things are checked properly, to ensure they are fair.

And it shouldn’t just be tries. When a knock on is ruled and the video replay reveals it was actually a strip, a penalty should be blown.

Further, team challenges must be introduced when a team feels a call was wrong. Each team will have two a game; if their challenge is successful then they can use it again. The challenge would render void any live decision made by the ref and allow the challenging team to specify incidents to be reviewed, beyond the last play the ball.

I don’t care that it will make games longer. I like the idea of watching footy for longer. What footy fan wouldn’t? The TV scheduling will have to change to allow for longer games but I’m sure they can sort that out.

I love our game, but I’m sick of watching mistakes by the officials decide results when it is so easy to avoid most of them. and I’m especially sick of those mistakes screwing my side over.