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Sharks coach Flanagan pans NRL referees

Cronulla Sharks coach Shane Flanagan had a dig at the referees after his side were dumped from the finals. (AAP Image/Jane Dempster)
26th July, 2018
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Another round, another NRL bunker controversy.

Cronulla coach Shane Flanagan has ensured officials will come under scrutiny for yet another week after claiming the refereeing was “not up to scratch” in their 12-10 loss to Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium.

A week after benefiting from two officials’ howlers in their win over Canberra, Sharks mentor Flanagan claimed Cronulla were on the wrong end of “too many” bad calls before taking aim at the bunker.

His biggest gripe was the bunker’s decision to not award a 26th minute try to centre Ricky Leutele.

The referee recommended a try but video officials overruled it after replays suggested Brisbane fullback Jamayne Isaako’s boot stopped the ball from touching the ground.

“Clearly I think any fair judge would find it hard to find sufficient evidence to overrule the on-field decision,” Flanagan said.

“We were on the positive end last week, we are on the negative end this week.

“There was just too many of them (tough calls). It’s a concern for the game. That refereeing standard wasn’t up to scratch.”

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The fallout over the gaffes in Cronulla’s last round win over Canberra prompted a plea from NRL CEO Todd Greenberg for officials to “get better” ahead of the finals.

But officials are again in the headlines after Flanagan’s post-match spray.

Cronulla co-captain Paul Gallen bit his tongue when asked about the officiating.

“They looked at it how many times? 20 times? So they had to look at it that many times to try and find sufficient evidence that it didn’t touch a blade of grass but I’ll let Flanno worry about that,” Gallen said of the bunker’s no-try call on Leutele.

“We were very brave but we should have got that done.

“That’s a hard loss because I thought we should have won.”

Cronulla halfback Chad Townsend was left to rue a butchered conversion right in front early in the second half that would have given the visitors a 12-10 lead.

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Sharks winger Valentine Holmes bagged a double by the 44th minute to lock up the scores 10-10 and take his try tally to a league leading 17 in 14 games.

But Townsend couldn’t slot what looked like a simple conversion, hitting the post instead.

“Give Brisbane credit, they defended well I suppose but in the end we should have kicked that goal … who knows, we might have gone to golden point,” Flanagan said.

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