Amid concerns surrounding the judiciary, sin-binnings and officiating, NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley has defended the toughness of the modern game.
After Canterbury Bulldogs forward Chris Smith was binned against the Wests Tigers, teammate Dallin Watene-Zelezniak was among those to worry about where the game is headed, telling Triple M the sport needs to “stay tough”.
It follows on from the backlash surrounding Penrith’s Viliame Kikau being handed a two match suspension after failing to have a dangerous contact charge overturned at the judiciary.
However, appearing for his weekly football briefing, Annesley told media such criticism lacks “any credibility”.
Noosa Duck
Roar Rookie
A split second ...less than a 10th of a second and it's late and dangerous......and Annesley is trying to defend the obvious refereeing over kill.....When Heaps Hughes & Buzz Rothfield agree on something then you know that the NRL has got it wrong... Annesley reckons that the referees have not lost the feel for the game.......pull the other leg Graham it plays the national anthem.....give us a break... We all thought that Annesley was going to be the cure for the problems and he has just become the the PR mouth piece and nothing else ....
The Barry
Roar Guru
It’s a great way to deflect the actual intent of the criticism. There’s been a problem with playmakers getting whacked well after they’ve passed the ball. So instead of cracking down on the very clear questionable incidents of this, the NRL (as usual) goes into complete over reaction mode and penalises the hell out of anything that even looks like it. As a result we have the ridiculous situation where players like Kikau are getting two weeks for microscopically late hits while other players who hit attacking players in the head and knock them senseless get away with a fine. They can’t see more than a foot in front of their face.
Insider
Roar Rookie
Thomo your a champion man! I really really want Manly to find a way to keep men like you at my club ,