Catastrophic officiating is Greenberg’s responsibility

Agree on the advantage but the bat down there is nothing wrong with and RU absolutely has this wrong. Don’t want your ball knocked down then don’t pass it that close to the line. Simple.

I’m in the exec management of a large business and yes, I understand best practice in both recruitment and employee development/ management. However, whilst they should go wide with their recruitment of any replacements, in a specialist industry like the NRL where not only does everyone know each other, we are also able to measure their merit before they even apply, I doubt the recruitment exercise would be for anything other than the optics of a fair process. I agree the current guys aren’t good enough. I seriously doubt that in the current NRL culture and in dealing with a relatively small talent pool, most of whom have been developed within this and similarly reactive cultures, we will see any great improvement. Unless you think that going back to the future will work and bring in a guy like Graham Annesley? Forget Harrigan.

After writing this I had to laugh. I was over reading an article in the AFL and saw this gem in the second comment: "Of course, the refs didn’t help, but that’s the way things go for Sydney; everyone’s out to get them." I guess Rugby League is not unique.

Well, what a weekend. Lets start with the forward pass. I can live with it. This is human error in a split second on what might have been a 40/60 call. It happens, nothing to see there. No conspiracy. No reason to sack the CEO. Punters have been outraged by forward passes since I start watching football in the 70's. The great touchie flag debacle of 2018 is a different matter. It was a succession of errors that led to an obviously incorrect result and no one during the process got above the treeline to see that they were heading for a ridiculous outcome. 1. The touchie incorrectly put his flag up. OK it was a mistake, but a one-off and human error. I don't remember ever seeing it before and the poor touchie has probably never done it before. He should get a game in the 2nd's because it had huge consequences. 2. But why didn't the touch judge own up to his error to the ref immediately? the ref checks with both tough judges before deciding whether to send a try to the bunker or award it. Why didn't the touchie just say "Mate, I stuffed up and the defenders stopped, you need to call it back and set a scrum". So in the spur of the moment he has made a bad choice to not own up. 3. The ref must have known something was up, he put his whistle to his lips. He needed to communicate his concern to the bunker more effectively. 4. But the ref sent it up as "no try". At that point the bunker has been given every opportunity to get it right. 5. The bunker must have seen the footage, they have about 20 TV screens. Common sense should have prevailed at that point. 6. The bunker can rule on more than just what the ref tells them to. For example, if the ref send a try upstairs checking for obstruction or offside, they still roll the footage through and check the grounding of the ball. So the bunker had a responsibility to review the consequences of the flag being raised. The result - a complete mess. In my view the touch judge should have been dropped. He made the initial error and then compounded it by not ensuring that the ref was aware of what happened. The ref didn't actually do a lot wrong. Nothing to see here, other than review of the footage in his regular game review this week. The NRL needs to come out and say more than just "we got it wrong". They need to explain the process taken in the bunker to reach their verdict. Then bunker officials need to be held accountable. They made a mistake and they might need a week off as well. I don't see this particular issue needing the CEO, head of referees, etc to resign. I'm not saying they are doing a great job, just that this issue is not one that should lead to such a call. The issues that should lead to that call are earlier ones Tim has raised alleging favouritism within the refereeing ranks, the demotion of Matt Chechin, the backing down from the penalty crackdown. They are much more serious than a reffing error, no matter how bad. Because, as Tim has rightly pointed out before, it is those issues that have led to a lack of trust and confidence within the refereeing community. I'm of the opinion that we have pretty much reaped what we've sown. Slowly but surely the game has allowed the refs to lose their position of authority and respect. The refs are the bosses out there. The players should address them as sir. The refs should not have to explain their on-field decisions to any player and if they don't like it, march them another 10. If the ref makes a mistake, suck it up, let he without sin cast the first stone. Get the Channel 9 dinosaurs in a room and tell them to shut the hell up about refs. If they can't find anything else interesting to say during a game, then find new commentators. They use this faux outrage to hide that fact that they have no ability to technically analyse the actual game. Or let's have the commentators ref the next round and see how they like it. I've reffed at junior level in a different code and it's bloody hard work, especially when every coward with an axe to grind can use 20/20 hindsight to abuse you in ways that no one should have to accept. Once the refs have the confidence that they are fully backed by the entire Code, watch standards rise. Watch quality people start to think refereeing might not be the worst career. Watch us comment on the game, it's tactics and it's players instead of every discussion starting with abuse and frankly, bullying of match officials. And unless you have the bank records and betting slips to prove it, never, ever accuse our match officials of corruption, cheating or bias. Accept that they are humans who make mistakes. Accept that home town noise can sometimes lead to a penalty, at all venues. What the hell are you teaching our kids when grown people spend their Friday nights on the Roar live blog (doesn't matter what game) and 90% of the comments are abusing match officials? And guess what, the worst offenders have access to the secret and very simple rule book for the game: 1. Any penalty against my team is wrong and could be evidence of a conspiracy. 2. Any penalty for my team is correct, but is just an insult compared to the 15 other penalties my team should have gotten so far. We have a great game and all we do is bitch and moan about it. I was on the Roar blog on Friday night and we have a game won 50-18 and the majority of comments are about the ref's bias.

His ball carrying arm had not hit the ground. Players were still trying to force him back while he was struggling forward. It didn't feel right, no doubt about that, but I can see how the call could have been made. In real time it did not take as long as the numerous slow motion replays while the commentators are giving their opinions. so in summary, I believe it was the wrong decision but it was not a conspiracy or travesty of justice, it was a 50/50 that probably went the wrong way.

The CEO can;t have a long term vision of where the game should go, when he is beholden to 16 club bosses who all only have their won short term interests at heart. The Commission has been neutered successfully by the clubs and we are back to a game run by self interested clubs.

Broncos have received the 2nd least penalties of any team this year, but apparently they are still getting a free ride to the flag by corrupt officials.

With the rise of online streaming, on demand hi-definition TV, social media, meaning we are more connected than ever before right from our living rooms, an explosion in other available past times. It's surprising numbers aren't down further if you go back and compare to an era before the iPhone was invented. Guess what, crowds were bigger again before matches were televised live, or televised at all.

Have to agree with that, well said. If we sack everyone whenever a mistake is made, how will anyone improve? We have had maybe 4 changes of leadership in a decade (which equals four changes to interpretations, processes, pecking order, which rules are being emphasised, etc). That will not lead to stability and improved processes.

The Raiders got four calls land their way in the last six minutes against the Bulldogs that ranged from 50/50s to downright wrong. Any one of those decisions go the other way and the Raiders lose. Yet nothing from Stuart about that after the game...

Are you saying it touched his arm hair or jersey?

AFL and NRL crowds are both up by just under 2% mumbles. A lot of the afl growth is in Perth with the new stadium. State of Origin sold out in Sydney by the way.

Ref was Cummins who last game penalised a player for crowding the player playing the ball causing an error - same thing happens today to Slater when nearly scored and its a penalty against Slater - Storm were in front so must have close game

Every other code ? so you admit they are down - the AFL crowds are up, Super 15 crowds are down but in the RL capital of the world they are pathetic - they cant even sell out SOO and they are afraid to hold Test match there because no-one will go

It’s Passion?! acting like a spoilt brat when things don’t go your way Is passion! And then getting all sensitive when someone has a go at you? Even though this guy has just ripped into referees and touch judges wanting them sacked...dish it out but cat take it back is not passion..it’s being a man child champ!

another howler today in Warriors Storm game ; Malmalo makes a big break into open space Storm player grabs Malmalo head pulls him to the ground, it was more than a head grab really it was an attack to his head, Malmalo gets up to play a quick ball, the Storm players are franticly trying to get back, the Storm tackler is standing beside Malmalo and pulls him sideways and then grabs the ball and maybe knocks it on. Ref calls a scrum with Storm feed. I thought the Storm player committed 3 offences there; 1. head high tackle. 2. Interfering with the player while trying to play the ball. 3. Not standing square. Really thought Storm player should have been binned for the high shot alone but when you add in all the extras on Malmalo, 10 minutes everyday. How the Storm got the feed is unbelievable. The Storm player was............Cam Smith. Think ref was Sutton.

Bernard Sutton has today admitted that the Cronulla try should not have been awarded and that the forward pass his brother called to rob Canberra of a match winning try was, in his words, "OK". But you are right Tim, he has placed all the blame on the linesman. No doubt he will be the fall guy. Yet the referee, Bernard Sutton's brother, should have stopped play when the linesman raised his flag. And doesn't it seem a little strange that none of the bunker officials saw the linesman's flag raised? What were they doing in the bunker … playing poker? They obviously weren't watch the game, or the replay, if they didn't see the linesman's flag raised. And there were at least three of them in the bunker at the time. Strange, to say the least!!!!

Theres a pattern with certain teams when it comes to reffing. After the blatant bias which handed the sombreros 2 points last week against the titans won't be surprised if this continues against manly.