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Opinion
The standard of referees in the NRL has once again come under scrutiny after some contentious calls in Round 3.
The most notable were in the Raiders vs Warriors and Broncos vs Bulldogs matches, where two blatant forward passes weren’t called by either the referees or touch judges.
The pass from Adam Elliott to Kyle Flanagan was dropped, so it had no impact, but the same can’t be said for the forward pass thrown by Kodi Nikorima to Ben Murdoch-Masila in the 61st minute as Canberra went down to the Kiwi side.
Referee Henry Perenara was right in line with the pass, yet he didn’t rule on it?
Under NRL rules, the Bunker can’t judge on forward passes, which is in urgent need of a review as in a cases like this it leaves the NRL open to possible questions about the integrity of referees.
The NRL invested millions implementing a video review system so that they could eliminated incorrect decisions, yet they have not introduced technology to rule on forward passes.
As for those who point out that you take the good calls with the bad and that Ricky Stuart is notorious for blowing up about the referees, well in this case he showed remarkable tolerance at the press conference and held it together even though he must have been burning inside.
The incorrect ruling by Perenara came at a crucial stage. After the Raiders had been defending their lead tenaciously, it appeared to provide the Warriors with some momentum and on the other hand it must have left the Canberra players feeling deflated.
The sooner that the NRL implements technology to rule on forward passes in the lead-up to tries, the sooner we’ll have matches decided on their merits.
After all, if a grand final was decided on a decision like we witnessed on the weekend, the NRL would come under intense criticism and scrutiny.
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