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Opinion
It’s impossible to know the pressure an NRL coach is under unless you’ve been in that pressure-cooker environment.
That old saying, it can make your blood boil. It’s true. There were many times when I was coaching Newcastle and Parramatta when things were not going our way that I could feel the blood in my veins reaching that point.
Which is not to excuse coaches for having a spray at refs or the bunker or anyone else, it’s just the way it makes you feel.
It’s hard to convey just how emotionally invested you are in a game. Let alone trying to understand the enormous frustration of the fans when several contentious calls seem to go against their team.
And it’s no coincidence that the coaches who are the ones venting their frustration at the refs in post-match media conferences are the ones who’ve just lost a game.
I have heard a few classic old sayings during my time as a player and coach like “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” and “show me a good loser and I’ll show you an idiot” or “football isn’t a matter of life and death, it’s much more serious”.
(Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)
This is the environment you are in. Everything’s at stake.
We’ve already seen a few examples of coaches reacting to decisions under pressure in the first two rounds of the NRL season.
They all had a point but it’s not always the best option to be complaining about every decision after a game, especially after a loss.
I got fined $5000 for a spray at a ref back in 2006 for a game we lost to Manly when Andrew Johns also blew up about a forward pass call.
Since I’ve stopped coaching I haven’t ever lost my temper anywhere like what I did when I was in that role – not with friends, family or driving in traffic.
One of the things I see today’s coaches getting angry about is the influence of the bunker and they’ve got a point.
When the NRL first started using video review more than 20 years ago it was only for a few certain parts of whether a try was scored or not.
Nowadays the bunker is having its say on every aspect of whether a try was scored as well as many parts of the game in general play, plus we’ve also got independent doctors in the bunker with a direct line to the stadium to say whether players should come off the field.
Because we’ve gone back to one referee it has become so hard for that person to adjudicate everything they need to on the field and to have someone in their ear throughout a game. They have so much more to look after these days and the captains now have the option to challenge decisions via the bunker as well.
The bunker is a necessary evil – you can’t leave the referee on their own out there because they get crucified when they make mistakes but as is the case with most things in our sport, balance is the key.
We need to make sure the obvious decisions are correct as top priority. Some parts of the game are black and white, and as long as the officials get those ones right, then most coaches, players and fans won’t blow their top.
And then there are always going to be grey areas. Everyone is going to have an opinion on them and the parties on each side of a 50-50 call can make a case why they’re correct but ultimately, a decision needs to be made.
A perfect example of this is the Herbie Farnworth try by the Broncos against Canterbury on Sunday night at Accor Stadium.
Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett thought it shouldn’t have been a try because the Brisbane decoy runner went through on the outside shoulder of his defender but the bunker used discretion to say they didn’t think Braidon Burns was impeded to an extent that it mattered.
The game has taken a strong stance on this issue and under the new interpretation of it (whether we like it or not) it should have been pulled back.
There was another one where a strip was ruled as a one-on-one because the other two Broncos players had dropped off a tackle and the Canterbury player relaxed thinking the tackle was complete.
One of the first things I was taught as a young Bulldog back in the early 1980s when Warren Ryan was the coach it was no matter what, you never let go of the ball and that was back in the day when you could get stripped of possession in a gang tackle when defenders would do all sorts of unsavoury things to you.
Teig Wilton tackles Mitch Moses mid-air. (Fox League)
The game has never had greater safety measures and concussion protocols in place to protect the players despite Parramatta complaining about a lack of protection for Mitchell Moses. However, we are still experiencing a few teething problems during some games but the Match Review Committee process catches nearly anyone who offends.
Teig Wilton should have been sin-binned for his late tackle on Eels half Mitch Moses on Saturday but the Sharks forward was still charged and has been suspended for one game so even if the officials get it wrong during a game like this when they only awarded a penalty, there are still things in place to ensure the player doesn’t get off scot free.
We’re still going to get some things wrong, irrespective of what the technology can bring to the game.
But will fans, players and coaches accept that? When your blood is boiling and your job is on the line, it’s not so easy to let a bad decision slide.
Michael Hagan is a former dual-premiership winning first grade player and current assistant coach of Australia's Kangaroos team. Hagan played 183 games for Canterbury and Newcastle and represented Queensland five times. He transitioned into a successful coach and took the Knights to a premiership in his first year in charge back in 2001. He went onto coach 205 NRL games and six times for Queensland in Origin.