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Rugby league immortal Andrew Johns has continued his scathing attack on the game’s officiating, urging the head of the NRL to “hang your head” following another night of refereeing controversies.
A combined 54 penalties were blown across both Friday night matches between South Sydney-Canterbury and Cronulla-Melbourne, forcing Johns to hit out at NRL boss Todd Greenberg.
“Good Friday pumped to work on dogs v Souths game. The game destroyed by penalties. Left the game so disappointed,” Johns said on social media on Friday night.
“Rushed home to watch storm v sharks purely as a fan. Shattered watching the game.
“Don’t blame the referees I feel for them. Pressure from above. Whoever it is at the top of NRL hang your head. The game belongs not to you or the players.
“It belongs to the fans who pay to watch. Waiting for your response Todd.”
Johns’ comments comes less than a week after also claiming the dramatic rise in penalties is destroying the product and become increasingly frustrating to watch.
Fox Sports statistics reveal that prior to the start of round four, the 17.82 penalties a game is almost four more than over the opening three rounds of the competition last year.
It is the most in that period since an average 18.14 penalties were blown prior to round four in 2004.
South Sydney coach Anthony Seibold said the crackdown is having an impact on the spectacle of the game, but praised the officials for sticking to their instructions in their win over Canterbury.
He also claimed the Bulldogs were guilty for most of their 14 penalties conceded.
“It is certainly affecting the spectacle of the game but I thought the Bulldogs came here to make it a real scrap today,” he said.
“If you have a look at the amount of times of second efforts in tackles. One thing I thought the referees did do was they kept penalising them.
“I suppose that was a gutsy move by them because I thought it was warranted. It didn’t make for a great spectacle, there’s no doubt about that.”
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