League has always been and always will be a simplistic game, brutally simplistic in fact, and here lies the main reason for its popularity.
Two teams of 13 players each on the paddock, run up and down the field, getting sets of six opportunities with the ball generally culminating with them kicking on the final play.
This simple structure leads to pure displays of the players’ strength, speed, and dazzling skills that seem to get more exceptional year on year.
Obviously, all sorts of permutations of this guideline can occur, but this is generally the structure of the game that Aussies now play in heaven.
Up and down, huge bodies continuously bashing into each other searching for a kink in the chain, for a team – or player – to submit, for someone to crack.
But, what if it isn’t a player that cracks? What happens when during the relentless breakneck speed of the game it’s a referee who cracks first?
Last Friday night’s game is what happens – Roosters vs Storm.
Every single year the players and coaches work their backsides off to make the NRL finals, but for every disappointed member of a team that didn’t make the eight there’s thousands more of disappointed loyal supporters that ride every hit, every pass, every on-year, and worse for them every off one.
These fans don’t deserve copping a dud call from a referee. Not when every game is televised from every conceivable angle and 95% of the game is already scrutinised ad nauseam by the officials.
No fan is going to begrudge a video ref for getting in the referee’s ear and say what we were all thinking: “Check, check, Ash, you’ve made a clanger.”
No one would have the right to be upset if play got dragged back a set, as long as the correct outcome was reached.
At the end of the day we will never know if the result would be different, it’s unimportant now.
What’s important is that a team’s been knocked out of the finals and their fans will be asking the big what-if … at least until kick-off next year.
What’s important is a ref has been given the sack for making a call he believed right at the time, when he had an all-seeing eye in the sky, perfectly capable of correcting him. The right outcome could have so easily been achieved, no need for punishing refs, no need for the fans’ woe is me act.
(Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
Refs need to be praised for their decisive calls, because when they have reached the pinnacle level of the NRL they are elite (and get it right 99% of the time), just as the players and coaches are elite, but no matter how elite you may be, every now and then, under the relentless pressure, people crack and get it wrong.
So why is the NRL’s answer to this burying their heads in the sand, lashing the fans for rightfully acknowledging what we all saw clear as day on the telly, then proceeding to sack the referee.
Officials will always make mistakes just like players, and when they don’t have the luxury (or the curse) of the ball being followed at all times by cameras like all the amazing volunteer refs, their decisions need to be respected and finale.
But when that red light is on and that lens is zoomed right in, there’s no reason an NRL referee should ever be able to get it so wrong, or any reason for fans to fight for him to get sacked.
kk
Roar Pro
May Day! May Day!
Tony
Roar Guru
With Alan Joyce replacing Vlandys :happy:
sheek
Roar Guru
Edward, I agree with you. Storm's inept performance against the Panthers demonstrated they shouldn't have progressed past the Roosters. The Roosters probably wouldn't have beaten the Panthers either, but they would have given them a much sterner contest. Klein's blunder was simply unfair & unjust, but it should never have been allowed to pass, with all the technology available. I'm old-school. Get rid of all the technology, except replaying key moments in normal speed. Give the power back to the ref, & accept his decisions, even the occasional wrong ones. It worked a treat for nearly 100 years before media outlets stuck their noses in. But the proverbial gate has already been left open & all the horses & other animals bolted. The other extreme is since the sporting bodies & media outlets are so obsessed with technology, use it for everything! Oh, but there'll be too many interruptions, they say. Durrrr. It's these same sporting bodies & media outlets who are already responsible for the multitude of interruptions & time-outs. So why not slow the game down further in the aim of getting every contentious decision right? It's just hypocrisy that we half-use technology & half-reject technology. If humanity is the smartest species on this planet, it doesn't say much for the rest of the animals occupying this planet!
kk
Roar Pro
Tony, The BUNKER will eventually do for Rugby League what the aeroplane did for travel. Engaging the right pilots is the trick. Enter Biggles!
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
I'm whinging that you're whinging about whinging fans. I want all decisions that benefit my team to be made on the spot 100% of the time with 100% accuracy. If the bunker needs to intervene to make sure that happens then so be it.
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
I think that's the first time you have said anything about the bunker.
Phil
Roar Rookie
Sorry Edward, I can't see how more intrusions from the bunker will make the game better. We will end up with two hour games if it does happen. The bunker official will have to make split second decisions on which bloopers to warn the ref on and it could be the bunker being wrong. I'm no fan of the bunker and would like to see it sent back to where it came from and have refs reffing, touchies getting more involved and simply having mistakes we can have a whinge about over a few beers. The bunker was meant to reduce, if not eliminate the howlers but they still happen. Whenever the human element is involved mistakes will happen whether it is in the bunker or on the field.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Can of worms indeed, Edward. Continuing with the apt metaphors, we’re like a frog in a saucepan, not noticing as the intrusion slowly increases until one day you think “meh, I’ll only watch one game this week” and then it’s one game a month and then you cancel your membership or subscription … that’s me with rugby in the last few years.
Edward Rabbidge
Roar Rookie
100% mistakes will always be made and when it’s a line call I think it should always go with the attacking team play on, but when it’s a clear forward pass or knock-on I think the bunker should be able to rule on it. High shots are a whole other issue, and the number of them will probably only grow with the size of the players and the game getting faster.
Edward Rabbidge
Roar Rookie
Very true, fans will always look to blame someone else before they look at their team. I don’t think the bunker getting involved an extra couple of times a game if needed would make the game anymore annoying, but who knows could open a whole can of worms.
Edward Rabbidge
Roar Rookie
Absolutely, the bunker has and will continue to have some shockers. But the technology is there, they have to work out better systems on how to use it.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
Sadly, throwing a forward pass from dummy half has become an art form that Cam Smith perfected, along with his incredulous looks when one was actually called. True. I did see one of blatantly forward passes called - once!
andrew
Roar Rookie
I just want to see referees penalising forward passes which happen EVERY game, especially hooker’s throwing them from dummy half. Is that too much to ask Graham Annesley?
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Thing is they can set it up any way they want and that includes forewarning players as refs do now. Tennis is a much simpler game to officiate but I'd much prefer the way it's done now to a human making guesses as to the ball being in or out by a fraction. It was unavoidable in the past and devastating when they understandably got crucial calls wrong. The next generation thru won't bat an eye at the technology and they are the future , not us older style plodders.
BigGordon
Roar Rookie
The focus of this piece is on one mistake that was made in a finals game, but what about the thousands of contentious decisions made across the entire season. These can affect teams just as much as a decision in the finals. I'm guessing in every game, there are at least a dozen forward passes, high shots, knock ons, late tackles, offsides, etc which are not called, all of which will have some contributing factor to the end result. If this premise is implemented, that would amount to at least 4,600 additional stoppages. I can guarantee it won't take long before the rugby league viewing public either stops watching or rebels loudly. Rugby league in 2023 is a game played by humans, coached by humans and officiated by humans, all of whom will make errors. Each group needs to minimize these but we, the viewing public, need to accept an unavoidable fact - mistakes will be made.
SSTID
Roar Rookie
I can see a time where the human ref can be replaced with a number of robot refs who can do all sorts of physics calculations (forwards pass - did it leave the hands in a forward direct), offside (GPS tracking of all players to see whether they are behind the 10 or the kicker) or infringements (on and off the ball with multiple 360 degree wide super zoom lens). Not an error will be missed or a penalty unpenalised and the robot won't be acting as the parent forewarning the offending player that they are in possible breach. Is that the sort of game and technology you want?
souvalis
Roar Rookie
It happened in the 25th minute with full time just a moment away.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
So want a game already scrutinised ad nauseam by the officials to be scrutinised more? In my experience, the whinging fan always finds something to whinge about, regardless of the facts.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
At the moment you have the situation where a team can retain possession after a blatant knock on, advance up the field and throw three forward passes and score the match winning try on the 7th or eighth tackle to win the GF. If the game survives the head injury and other injury conundrum , these issues will be eliminated by technology. Maybe they'll have a human ref out there to maintain a tradition but he or she won't be making many calls because technology will be taking over. It's just a matter of time. Even now the bunker could advise the ref on the run and he could correct many wrong calls. The idea that the bunker is no better than the ref is the biggest myth in the game. The bunker does make mistakes but has the ability to look at a replay of the action and clearly has a much higher rate of getting calls right. Remove the bunker from try scoring situations and see if things get better or worse. The answer is obvious whether you like the bunker and it's delays or not.
Tony
Roar Guru
I hate the bunker