It's time to allow referees to fight back

That is a terrible idea - to have a referees' press conference. Journalist: Why did you make that decision. Referee: Because that is what I saw at the time. That is why referee press conferences will never happen. Also the part where you say referees aren't accountable - referees get demoted and dropped all the time for incorrect decisions - take Chris Sutton and Chris Butler who were involved in the Warriors vs Eels game and were not refereeing first grade the next week. Referees are only one decision away from being dropped, whereas players will never have that pressure.

Cechin was involved in one of the worst 'non -decisions' of the year. He was one of the refs in Darwin where Rapana copped a stiff arm across the nose. Rapana left the field weakening Canberra's attack. Terepo's blatant cheap shot didn't even send him to the bin. Rapana was a liability for the rest of the game. Terepo played on and helped Parramatta win.

You’re joking right? If that was allowed the “protected species” status would have to be removed from them and coaches and players could really speak their minds. Can’t have that can we?

If you want some insight into a refs mind and how they go about their demanding role try listening to the Refs Round Up, A podcast by Kasey and Gavin Badger. It is informing, humorous, honest and topical. Hats off to all Refs.

If the ref crackdown proved one thing, it is that the refs have never been doing their job and that is what everyone wants of them. They are expected to let play flow and pick which calls need to be made, but in the same sense, not make a mistake in the call or deal with it harsh or quick enough. The game literally has them as a scapegoat. Yet the most appalling thing of the current setup is the crapfest going on that is a Graham Annesley segment pointing out their apparent errors. In saying that, pay me $1000 a game and I'm in.

Cechin is the best ref. Get rid of the Suttons. Put McCallum in charge.

The problem is there is no rule about applying common sense or 'feel for the game'. Im a Tigers fan and think that should be a try. But according to the rules it it not. I would like the rule to ALWAYS be that it is at the referees discretion as to whether or not a player is impeded and there is only a penalty IF a player has actually been impeded in the opinion of the referee. But nowhere in the rule book does it state anything about the referee being allowed to use discretion. The rule book says: The indicators for an obstruction include: 1. (a) ‘Block’* or ‘Flat’ runner[s] (who do not receive the ball) must not stop in the middle of the defensive line The block runner stopped in the defensive line so its a penalty. There is nothing in the rule book to say, but if the ball had already been passed behind him and the player impeded had no chance of getting across anyway...Until/unless the rule book is updated to allow this, then its not the refs fault for enforcing the rules as they are written

It doesn't matter where it ends up.

That's called throwing someone under a bus. And looking at the pass, it's a couple of metres forward. Leaves his hand while he is on the end of the dashed white line, picked up on the start of the next dash by the other player.

Social media wasn't around back in the 70s and 80s either. Most of the discussions surrounding ref mistakes would have been discussed and forgotten at the pub over copious amounts of alcohol.

Hey Papi. Thanks for the response. I understand that there is not a whole lot of dropping refs to reserve grade "especially the elite ones" as you say but the depth just isnt there to make mass changes to the refs lists every week. Particularly if its the 'elite' ones that are being dropped. I believe there is a lot of changing between who gets the 'bigger' games and who is lead/pocket each week as a result of recent performance. Next, i completely agree that many rules dont reflect their original intention. This isnt the referees fault however. They can only rule on how the rule is currently written. If people arent happy, be they commentators, fans, players or coaches they should campaign to get the rules ammended in the following years NRL Laws and interpretations. Refs not being on the same page could be a fault from the individual ref or a fault from the refs boss. He should be coaching them to interpret things a certain way. If he is doing this AND a referee interprets something differently then the ref is at fault. If he has not then the refs boss is at fault. In my mind but there are only 2 such inconsistencies in the game. Forward passes and obstructions. Forward passes we all know how they should be determined, but trying to determine whether the ball went forward due to momentum or was passed forward when made live and on the run cant be easy. If the technology exists (which im sure it does) then i agree we should be using it but its not as simple as a few lines across the screen as this wont consider momentum. Case in point i still dont know if the RTS pass was forward or not, nor do i believe anyone else actually knows simply by looking at it rather than doing an actual biomechanic analysis. I agree that it is ridiculous you are allowed to drag players around where ever you want on the field but the minute you try to do this near the sideline or ingoal it is suddenly a penalty. But i do feel this is the case with all referees. The flipping between "to the letter of the law" rulings and the "in our opinion this hasnt impacted the play" rulings when considering obstructions is the one inconsistency that frustrates me. Im still not sure that a ref media conference would do anything more than allow lynch mobs to attack referees post games. However i would like to see something like a video log of referees responding to specific decision related questions released on a monday or tuesday for many of the reasons listed by posters below.

Yet one more example of how the referees lack a feel for the game and an understanding of how to apply commonsense to rulings because they are just glorified civil servants with a whistle and have no true understanding of the game they ruining with their shortsighted narrow-mindedness. No feel, no common sense: Bunker bewilders as Cowboys denied try against Wests Tigers https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nrl-premiership/teams/cowboys/no-feel-no-common-sense-bunker-bewilders-as-cowboys-denied-try-against-wests-tigers/news-story/dcd02f0b7a3a089156f2ad0896da00ed

So Inglis being your captain is why Souths have won soooooo soooooo many penalty counts? So you're 3rd on the Penalties Awarded list now with a pommie Capt and Qld coach. Your team sits above EVERY Qld Captained team in the competition - Storm, Roosters, Broncos and NQ. Titans have Roberts, a nswelshman. Seems you're a bit hastie with "evidence at hand..."

Then don’t let anyone born in Queensland ever be a team captain Well, actually from the evidence at hand it seems that pommie captains, like Sam Burgess and James Graham, face as much prejudice as the QLD captains are favoured by referees. There must be a Republican streak that runs through the lot of them. Clearly they place "the old country" last, nationalists/rationalists (NSW) in the middle and radical secessionists (QLD) at the top. After all, North Korea has been trying to secede from the Commonwealth of Australia or the ARL (so some for of "Australia") in one form or another for much of it's history. Queensland separatism has always been part of it's DNA. It is so rife and cancerous within the QLD genome that not only have QLDers wanted to secede from the Commonwealth of Australia and from the Australian Rugby League (ARL) but they also want to divide and separate from each other! 1889 - Central Queensland Territorial Separation League Advocated the separation of the Central Queensland region from the (then) colony of Queensland. 2016 - The democratic case for splitting Queensland in two https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2016-03-29/berg-the-democratic-case-for-splitting-queensland-in-two/7280330 2017 - North should secede from Queensland https://amp.townsvillebulletin.com.au/news/opinion/north-should-succeed-from-queensland/news-story/68b0fcee8f1e17f1540b94d636d06b93 2018 - North Queensland secession call https://amp.couriermail.com.au/news/opinion/north-queensland-secession-call-ignores-where-the-money-comes-from/news-story/1bed207f822fe2a2056701bb64dfda4f In fact, I once read that an attempt was once made en masse by QLDers who were deployed across the length of the NSW/QLD border and used synchronised jackhammers to cut themselves free of the Australian mainland in the hopes they would drift off into the Pacific ocean. Sadly, the attempt ended in failure. LOL

I still claimed the Rabbitohs premiership success even during their years of forced exile from the competition so why would I do otherwise while they are still part of the competition? History is still history and that is never rewritten by progress and change. Has anyone tried to dismiss the Dragons record of 11 straight premierships after the game changed from "unlimited tackle rule" to the "Four-tackle rule" in 1967? Were the Eastern Suburbs Roosters, Balmain Tigers or Western Suburbs Magpies premierships wiped when the rules changed again and the value of a field goal was reduced from two points to one, and six-tackle rule introduced in 1971? Were the Eels 1981 and 1982 premierships lost to history when in 1983 Tries were increased from 3 points to 4 points and a handover after the sixth tackle was introduced into the game? Did the Bulldogs and Sea Eagles have their premierships wiped when the Super League rebellion failed and the two competitions were manacled together in 1998? Elvis, did your Broncos lose all their premierships when 'Golden Point' extra-time introduced in 2003? The game has been growing and evolving over the last 111 years. It is ONE continuous competition which may be comprised of multiple historical segments but they are still all part of the same organism. Aren't you happy you asked that question now elvis? ;-)

Real life is dropping the refs and co from the Warriors game.

I do think refs would and should think about the situation if plenty of 50/50's are going one way. Refs are influenced by all sorts of factors including the home grand crowd and not blowing the whistle for penalty goal attempts in golden point. If he sees a player defending his line in round one and is six inches offside he is far more likely to blow a penalty than in the last minute of a GF .

"To tell a coach that a ref made several crucial errors but nothing at all is going to be done about it and you’ll have to put up with it next time you get him as well, is ludicrous. " Actually this is exactly what should be told to coaches. It's called real life.

Sounds like a game of gridiron. Would you still be able to claim Souths has the greatest number of premierships if the game totally changes?

In the 70s and 80s the tv callers didn't act like complete knobheads whenever a decision was wrong. I was listening to a replay of a Brisbane GF the other day and while the callers actually spoke out and called out a lot more ref errors than they do today, the just made a comment and moved on. Things like, "Ref missed the forward pass, tough call. That looked knocked back, I think the ref got it right". Accepting that human error and perspective is part of the game.