That question-accusation is a tame retelling of what I see spat at rugby league officials every weekend, at all levels in our game.
For thirty years I have experienced teammates, coaches, managers, trainers, club officials, and team supporters mistake passion for abuse.
From a rugby league supporters level I have heard respected senior coaches, commentators, and players regularly imply that referees have been responsible for outcomes in an eighty minutes. From juniors all the way to the NRL, the accountability of a loss is shunted because it seems we as a sport do not have the minerals to mature beyond the adolescence in our game.
The Cronulla Sharks succumbed to the North Queensland Cowboys by a field goal in an extra time thriller on Sunday. It was grit, it was grind, it was contentious. There were 50-50 calls both ways, and were the result reversed it may very well have been Paul Green reading from a list of grievances at a press conference.
Though I very much doubt it.
Putting things into context Cronulla are the second-most penalised side in their own red zone behind only Newcastle, and they spend nowhere near the same amount of time in their red zone as Newcastle. They deliberately concede red zone penalties to disrupt and discourage the opposition attack.
During the regular season these tactics landed some close and contentious wins for Cronulla. But as the saying goes “live by the sword, die by the sword”.
Shane Flanagan has next to zero right to question those decisions publicly because of his obvious bias, and his team’s obvious tactics.
Cronulla Sharks coach Shane Flanagan (AAP Image/Jane Dempster)
Fair play there were some tough calls, the Jayden Brailey charge down was rough. Andrew Fifita did not knock the ball on when it went through his legs, but those have been called a knock on all year.
Confusingly James Maloney’s sin bin enraged Flanagan. Maloney is a notoriously negative defender who got caught out making a bad decision on a Cowboys try scoring opportunity. Which is just about word-for-word verbatim on the ruling for a professional foul. Flanno’s view – no professional foul.
Late in the game Matt Prior was making a tackle and had his hands on the ball, replays show a motion forcing the ball out. Could be a strip, could be poor ball security. These have been a 50-50 all year and most likely always would be. North Queensland level the scores. Flanno’s view – scrum Cronulla.
Gallen in the dying moments forces his hand and reaches out for the line instead of focusing on a quick and clean play the ball for his halves to ice the game, it’s messy and the ball pops out. Flanno’s view – penalty Cronulla.
Extra time Fifita crabbed across searching to recreate his watershed Origin moment, his loose carry and North Queensland defensive pressure resulted in a knock on. Flanno’s view – no comment.
Poor Cronulla defensive decisions, poor Cronulla attacking decisions, and two unlucky calls. Not really robbed is it?
Rather than deliver a venomous manifesto to the refs why not set an example to your team and club, call your players out for their mistakes, push them to be better next year, push for an adapted style to an ever changing game?
No praise for Jason Taumalolo, Michael Morgan, the Cowboys, and Paul Green for a hard-fought and deserved win. Just a bucket of hate for the officials.
The stakes may be high at this time of the year, but it seems among the exiting teams strength of character is not.
Bigj
Guest
Exactly
Jacko
Guest
I guess the Peptides have worn off
Larry1950
Guest
Got very little time for those bleating coaches, particularly Flanagan after he justified his side's progression after their 2013 'seventh tackle' try. They won by 2 points & we never heard him suggesting a replay. Maybe the nrl needs to up the ante, impose competition points penalties on these wingers, Cronulla having theirs suspended for 2018 if Flanagan apologies. Kudos to Luke Lewis who was congratulating cowboy players immediately , unlike his mates
Justin Kearney
Guest
Sharks played poorly for 60 minutes and should have been up by twenty at that time of the game. Their 6th tackle options close to the line were terrible. From that point on the refs ruined the game. Every 50/50 call went to the cowboys. It was dreadful to watch. The refs just blew us off the field. Imho that was a result of our poor discipline throughout the season. You reap what you sew but it still stings to see such rancid officialdom. The nrl has a massive issue to fix here and fining coaches isnt going to fix it.
chivasdude
Guest
+2
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
+1
Beastie
Guest
You don't "fluke" a premiership. You can "fluke" getting into the finals, but not a premiership. Don't tarnish the greatest award our game has to offer for a team by suggesting that. The Sharks were clearly one of the 2 best teams last year, and on the day, did everything that was needed to win the Final. They are clearly not one of the best 2 teams this year, and their loss on the weekend shows this.
Beastie
Guest
I can guarantee you if Smith was in the same position as Gallen was he doesn't try to be a hero and score a try. He would take a quick hit up and get a quick play the ball so they could go for a field goal. The Sharks lost that game through stupid plays and poor game management, not through ref's errors.
Big Daddy
Guest
Good point about Gallen. He probably went back in line and said nothing to the team and then blows up like a stuck pig. Interesting that at half time police escorted refs off. Was their something in crowd that happened. Sharks Hans were being pretty feral.
Sam Knox
Roar Rookie
Sorry Greg, but it doesn't help your case about the Cowboys being "twice as disciplined" when 6 of your 11 penalties conceded are in within 10m. And a very simple way for Maloney to not get binned..... dont try to tackle someone without the ball, who also never had the ball on the play. I can remember Gallen scoring one very very similar to the Taumalolo one this year too, maybe the 4 of them on him should have been able to stop him from getting to the in goal.
Sam Knox
Roar Rookie
Sorry Greg, but it doesn't help your case about the Cowboys being "twice as disciplined" when 6 of your 11 penalties conceded are in within 10m. And a very simple way for Maloney to not get binned..... dont try to tackle someone without the ball, who also never had the ball on the play. I can remember Gallen scoring one very very similar to the Taumalolo one this year too, maybe the 4 of them on him should have been able to stop him from getting to the in goal.
AGordon
Guest
Great article Greg. Flanagan is a graceless sook who coaches his team to cheat - how else can you explain the number of penalties given away in defence? I maintain coaches and Clubs should not be allowed to discuss the refs straight after a game under penalty of suspension and/or loss of competition points, which can be carried over to the following year if this happens in the Finals. Instead, why don't they cat like professionals, sit down with refs and go through the contentious issues on Monday once the dust has settled. THEN have the press conferences. As it stands, cowards like Staurt, Hasler, Flanagan, Barrett, etc, will hide behind referee bashing instead of facing the truth about their teams underperformances.
BigJ
Roar Guru
Oh im well aware of the WBO independent review of the decision between Horn v Pacquiao. Im agreeing with you on both points. If Pacquiao knocked out Horn there would be no argument. Same with the Sharks if they won by 20.I was just saying that most of the world media and boxing so called experts outside of Australia disagree with the decision
dAYER
Guest
cry me a river
no one in particular
Roar Guru
We need another article of the refs. And another about crowds.
Duncan Smith
Guest
Flanno made himself look like a goose. And even if a couple of calls went against Cronulla, they would never have been in a sudden death match with the Cowboys if their season hadn't been so poor in the first place. No consecutive wins since May - whose fault is that? The Sharks deserved 2016, but they didn't deserve to make the grand final this year.
Fish
Guest
Look I am a bit over the Fafita knock on. It WAS a knock on. Now I do know if people just missed it or what, but he clearly drops it down next to his left foot and then proceeds to kick it behind him. Knock on!
Martin Millard
Roar Pro
The independent review by 5 impartial judges with no sound on disagrees with that supposed 90%. That's the whole point though isn't it. If Pacquiao was so much better he would have knocked Horne out. If Cronulla were so much better they would have won by 20. Leave it in the hands of the refs at your peril because everything is open to interpretation, so if and when you lose it would be easy to find "reasons" that you were robbed
BigJ
Roar Guru
Martin if you knew anything about the Horn v Pacquiao fight, you would know that pretty much everybody not Australian thought that Manny Pacquiao won that fight so about 90% of watchers
The Barry
Roar Guru
I think there's plenty wrong with how the game is refereed at the moment so please don't think I'm defending the refs all the way. But I think it's more systemic than personnel related. I just don't buy into this "refs cost us the game and here's seven reasons why" mentality when the decisions that go the other way are completely ignored.