Rugby league, we have a problem.
On Friday night at Southern Cross Group Stadium there was a costly error made by the officials in the game between the Cronulla Sharks and the Canberra Raiders. The error has left many members of the rugby league community feeling very angry.
The Raiders ended up losing the game 28-24 and Raiders fans must accept that their teams season is over.
At the point in the game when the error was made, the Raiders were trailing by four points.
They had been down by 10 points but had started to mount a comeback and were beginning to dominate despite trailing on the scoreboard.
Then, everything changed when there was a mix up between the touch judge and the main referee which led to a try being scored by the Sharks.
During a Sharks set, touch judge Ricky McFalane raised his flag. Play should have stopped right there. But instead, referee, Gerard Sutton put the whistle to his lips, but did not blow it.
Seeing this take place, many of the Raiders players stopped, despite Sutton then deciding to allow play to continue and this left space for Sione Katoa to score a try.
When the sequence was sent up to the video referee to look at an earlier knock on, the bunker ‘failed’ to see the touch judge raise his flag and sent it back as a try.
Since then, referees boss Bernard Sutton has said there was an unfortunate miscommunication between the match officials and the wrong decision was made.
But where does this acknowledgement leave the Raiders? It leaves them without the two points and their hopes of finals in tatters.
The Bunker has come under fire for some bad decisions. (The Roar)
It also gives credence to every fan and media personality that has criticised the referees throughout the year for poor decision making.
Some people have defended the decision, suggesting that the Raiders should have played to the whistle. This I think is unfair.
For me, the touchie raising his flag is exactly the same as the referee blowing his whistle.
We teach kids to play the whistle, that is effectively what the Raiders were doing. Josh Hodgson said as much in the post-match press conference, as soon as players see the whistle at a referee’s lips, they instinctively stop play.
At this point, excuses are inappropriate. That moment needs to be acknowledged for what it was – an exceptionally disappointing and incorrect decision.
I found Ricky Stuart to be quite impressive in the press conference afterward. I had my popcorn ready for an almighty blow up, but very respectfully, he did not blame the referee or the touch judge for the loss.
He did question the decision though to institute a ‘crackdown’ at the start of the year and then the decision to change approach midway through the year.
Stuart is referring to Todd Greenberg coming out midway through the year and asking referees not to ‘nitpick’ as much seemingly in reaction to the number of penalties being awarded early in the year.
Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart (AAP Image/Lukas Coch)
This is something I absolutely agree with.
At the start of the year, the crackdown was something I was absolutely behind. We saw an improvement in the ruck and teams finally beginning to play by the rules again.
The difference was highlighted to me when I was watching the Denver Test earlier this year and saw how scrappy the play the ball was.
It was disappointing for me to see Todd cave earlier this year and we’ve since seen teams begin to revert to their old, ill-disciplined ways. I noticed it yesterday in the game between the Melbourne Storm and the New Zealand Warriors.
Back to the Raiders game.
After the try had been awarded, I myself felt very disappointed. But I was and am still left wondering what should be done about it. There are several options.
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1) Remove Bernard Sutton and Tony Archer immediately. Sutton was employed by Greenberg and Archer by Sutton. They have overseen the regime this year and are directly responsible for the way the game is being policed.
Interestingly, when these errors are made, Sutton apologises and then we move on. Is this appropriate anymore?
2) We get rid of the Bunker at the end of the year. This is an interesting one. People have complained that we use technology too much in our game now. But for me, if the technology is there, we should use it.
In the past, when we didn’t have the technology poor calls were also made. Without the bunker, there would need to be a shift in fan mindset and they would need to accept incorrect decisions if referee’s are being asked to make them on the spot.
In this scenario our referees also need to feel empowered to make decisions without experiencing tremendous backlash from the general public.
3) Do we allow the Bunker to begin making decisions on everything. It incenses me that the Bunker is unable to rule on forward passes.
Additionally, I am still unsure on how the Bunker missed the flag being raised the other night, despite the many camera angles on show.
4) Do we wait for the end of the year to make a decision to prevent further disruption to this season?
5) We accept that referees are human beings and that incorrect decisions are made.
Incorrect decisions are made throughout games, it’s just that some errors made by the referees are more costly than others. When our players have perfect games, then we can expect the same from our officials.
It’s exceptionally unfortunate what happened to the Raiders, but I also refuse to overdo it. The Raiders season is over because they failed to close out several close games earlier in this season.
They have had plenty of opportunities throughout the year and in some circumstances luck goes your way and in other circumstances it doesn’t.
But just because it wasn’t this game that cost the Raiders their season, it doesn’t make it an easier pill to swallow.
Most are in agreement that what happened on Friday night was unacceptable. But how on earth do we fix it?
Chris Love
Roar Guru
What a ridiculous comment. If the commentators were silenced from commenting on poor refereeing the punters would be even more in uproar. Commentators calling out poor refereeing is fine.
Ray Paks
Roar Rookie
Mary,i thought it was pretty common knowledge that the video ref couldn't rule on a forward pass because of all that stuff surrounding 'momentum'. When there's 2 players moving at speed and one throws a pass to another it might look forward but it's actually gone backwards because it's momentum. But we've seen some real clangers in recent times that are so blatant and those should be pulled up by the bunker but sadly it can't be done..
elvis
Guest
Yes they did, they made just as many mistakes. Except they weren't second guessed microscopically by endless replays, and if they were wrong the commentators didn't bang on about it all game.
R N
Roar Rookie
I hope you don’t mind Robert but I read your post in the voice of Brookes Hatlen from shawshank redemption... and it resonated beautifully!
GWSingapore
Guest
All the technology. Touch judges like Brian Barry, Reg Dick, and Godfrey Hedger had only their eyes and ears, yet did not seem to make mistakes like their modern day counterparts.
Mushi
Guest
A couple of years ago my wife commented on how she didn't hate me watching NRL as much. I explained we can watch it with out the channel 9 commentary. Her response " great that Gould guy is the most annoying sound I've ever heard followed closely by you explaining to the TV that he doesn't actually know the rules." She followed up with "everyone knows he doesn't know anything, let it go "
Onside
Guest
........scamper through for a single
Mushi
Guest
Yep stand up bloke out Ricky. Never bailed a referee up at the hotel and abused him. That he is allowed to coach kind of exemplifies what rugby league stands for.
Mushi
Guest
Personally I'm with 5. On your first 4. 1. Will be popular, and prove nrl fans hypocrites when we hammer referees for making the same mistakes. How many times have we called for, and gotten, the head of the refs boss? Has it ever fixed anything? Nope because we don't understand relative value. 2 /3 was it deliberate irony to juxtapose the expansion and removal of the bunker? It highlights the core issue - NRL fans are the worst whingers in sport. No matter which way we go with 2/3 the complaint vacuum will be eagerly filled by the other side like a lieutenant stepping in for a fallen front man for a Colombian cartel. 4 Any change late does make a mockery of the ladder. But then Greenberg has shown form in this regard. But that aside from that, there are 3 aspects to improving refereeing. 1. better capability for decision making 2. better information 3. Better algorithms for decisions Only 2/3 of the article really approach any part of that and only in a cursory way. Truth is we don't have a solution for the rebuild but it won't stop the villagers wanting to burn the house down
The Barry
Roar Guru
Exactly...then get three stinker calls that you or the refs have no chance to review because you've been rorted on your challenge
Matt H
Roar Guru
Good comment
Matt H
Roar Guru
Thanks Forty Twenty, Regarding being contradictory, what I was trying to say was: 1. In this instance, yes there has been a really bad mistake and there must be consequences 2. In the wider scheme of things the constant barrage of criticism aimed at refs from every section of the Game, for a lot less than what happened on the weekend, must be having a detrimental effect on standards and we all need to take a step back. I'm pretty sure no workplace environment improves standards by abusing their employees every single day. Give the refs back their respect and authority and performance will improve over time. As for the Broncos Panthers game, it was just an example of a game where there was clearly a better side but the majority of comments were still about refs. The fact is, the team with the ball gets the penalties. So if you have more ball, you get more penalties. Broncos completed 20 of 21 sets in the first half and the Panthers completed 5 of their first 9. So was it really the refs that had a material effect on the game, more than the performance of the players? As for Captain's call, I'm a cautious supporter, but only for situations where a try is scored or disallowed. Otherwise the game will stop every 5 minutes and we end up with NFL.
Philip Sinclair
Guest
Get rid of the moronic commentators who scream blatant forward pass and rave on and on, scream that a try is scored when it's impossible to be certain and continually bring the ref's decisions into question as if they're super know alls. These people and coaches who devise plans to circumvent the rules put tremendous pressure on the ref's who seem to just follow the critics and the become worse for it. I would love to see the nit picking penalties ignored and borderline passes allowed (penalise blatant forward passes though), also minor infringements in the play the ball ignored. However the coaches coach players to keep pushing the envelope further and further and minor infringements become major therefor forcing the refs to penalise and so the circle goes on. Pity we couldn't do away with commentators and coaches and just leave it to the players and the refs.
Cedric
Guest
did you watch the game Mary. I ask because that howler was not the only one. 2 forward passes for tries to Cronulla and one try disallowed to the Raiders for a legal pass and several other odd calls. This game needs to be voided and replayed it was beyond dodgy. These howlers are not one off incidents as the next day showed with the howler involving Cam Smith on Ken Maumalo in the Warriors Storm game, which in its self was very dodgy as the replay clearly showed what happened but Cummins still went with his howler call.
The Barry
Roar Guru
That was the Isaako “knock back” ?
The Barry
Roar Guru
Was it? Most of the commentary has been the touchie raised his flag for the Ramien “knock on”, It’s a pretty confusing situation. Are touchies supposed to signal forward passes by raising their flags? I thought they just called it to the refs. If the touchie was calling a forward pass and the refs went upstairs to check it that’s next level incompetence.
Forty Twenty
Guest
I don't watch much Union now but don't they use the bunker to rule on forward passes? If they're doing it and it's not a lottery or disaster why can't league do it?
Ian
Guest
What you said in your last sentence, exactly! Rather than whine about rules and whether they are right or wrong and should be enforced or not, has it occurred to anyone in authority to rewrite the rules to match the game they want to see?
Mike Gordon
Roar Rookie
Is referring broken or are we? 100% Footy promo tonight opens “The latest on the refereeing debacle”. If I had my way at ch9 I’d penalise anyone ranting and raving about refs calls, but what would I know. Obviously the back room boys n girls know what the crowd feeds on. Back in the day when the AFL indroduced Trial by Video-a revolutionary response to regular All In Brawls, where players, trainers, coaches, anyone and everyone on and off the field “biff-vented”-Latrobe University Sociology researching domestic violence, observed a coinciding spike followed by a return to “normal” levels. They hypothesised that people found getting out their frustrations in other ways helped save family cohesion. Is ref nay ref boss bashing the last bastion of pent-up steam? I’ve often heard extremely logical analysts totally blowup emotionally when their team is involved. Good on em-go you good thing! I think it’s a problem though when analysis is too mixed with emotional reactions. What’s right and wrong? The refs call is what. I love the big hard hits and aggression of the big pigs and bo riddly, the pluck and guile of the pilittleons, the power and speed of the left and righteous ones and I love the acrobatic super flys zipping down the sidelines over, under and around the corner post.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Wait, I thought the touchiest flag was up for a forward pass in the play that the try was scored and they went to the bunker for an irrelevant knock on check. The bunker should hav never been used if the touchie and refs had done their job. Ref should have referred to the touchie before going up stairs. When he didn’t the touchie had an obligation to make him aware of it.