Former Australia and Queensland forward Gorden Tallis has accused NRL coaches of “rorting the system” by hiring ex-referees to teach their players how to bend the rules.
Tallis urged coaches to stop complaining about how the game is officiated and said it was time they shouldered some of the blame for the current controversy surrounding referees that is plaguing the game.
It comes amid another NRL crackdown on attempts to slow down the play-the-ball following an email from referees boss Bernard Sutton to clubs last week.
“I’ll tell you what they’ve got to change, is the coaches breaking the rules. Every single club has an ex-referee in there. Why? To rort the system,” Tallis told reporters in Brisbane on Tuesday.
“To cheat any way possible.
“Brisbane the other day, (Anthony) Milford had his hand on the ball three or four times to stop Penrith from playing the ball quick because they were under the pump.
“Who taught him to do that? That’s not cool.
“…Todd Greenberg, that’s what he’s got to look at.
“The players and coaches are at fault, not the referees. Because you’ve got 34 guys out there doing the wrong thing and it’s really hard.”
Tallis said referees should be given more power to send off players who make repeated ruck infringements.
“Seriously, stop whinging about it, because the style of footy we’re seeing now is because they cracked down so early in the year,” he said.
“Just leave the referees alone, they’ll do their job, the players have to do theirs. And stop coaching them to break the rules.”
Tallis also defended the NRL’s much-maligned bunker, saying it gets far more decisions right than wrong.
“What it does is it puts (referee) mistakes under a microscope,” he said.
“If you turn on any Friday night footy and you see those tries in the corner, we all go, ‘he didn’t get the ball down’.
“And when we see the replay, it shows that he gets it down. So all those tries would be no tries.
“There’s rubbers on the end of pencils. Our game is ridiculous with that. We love throwing everybody under the bus.”
CTSTORM
Guest
Changing the rules to get the Victorians. Can you explain what the Storms are doing that is very different from other teams.
Marc
Guest
Good point Gordon. Just wished he picked out the biggest offenders (Victorians) rather than pick on your usual victim, Brisbane and Bennet. If you really want to fix a problem, brutal honesty is vital.
Edward Kelly
Roar Guru
I agree with him but I also wonder if he considers hair pulling, bandage tearing off, and diving as being cheating, given his beloved Broncos are the best at it.
tamaolevao
Guest
Yes sir Gordy I pretty much said as much on this very issue on another thread ......: This is the result of not having a international game ... All coaches are x players who need jobs with a limited market for nrl media people no other choice but get into coaching so they will look to save their jobs they will cheat and then blame the easy target the refs The culture in league is blame the arl or nrl they’ve done it forever As soon as betting came into the game as a sponsor it’s opened up and we’ve seen match fixing in league become more relevant
Mushi
Guest
Wow.. A balanced and considered view from the Bull. It says something about the culture of NRL fans when a guy who had one of the worst on field blow ups tells us to pull our head in, its like getting a diversity lecture from goebel
Adam
Roar Guru
Urgh I feel so dirty agreeing with him as well. At the end of the day we have 16 teams trying to cheat the system and a bunker that gets most decisions right.
Dutski
Roar Guru
I can’t believe I am about to say this, but I agree with Gordie 100%. Let’s all quit the moaning and play some footy. Stop trying to push the edges of the rules (looking at you, Melbourne) and get on with playing the game.