NRL Issues of Contention - The year of the Ref

Regardless of how good some of the games are this year, it seems it will long be remembered for not what the players have done on the field but what decisions the officials have made on the field.

There has not been a weekend gone where the major talking points do not evolve around the referees. Even the biggest show piece, State of Origin, has been overshadowed by the referees rather than the players. Teams that have won complain, and teams that lost and never deserved to win have complained about the referees. The worst decisions evolve around the video refs which is more astounding considering they get the benefit of watching the same slow motion replays as everyone else and still make a decision that is against the majority of those watching.  If the video refs are making regular errors week in week out then it shows that there is a problem that can not be glossed over. The system is flawed or the people in the system is flawed, most likely both.  

The first thing that needs to be changed is the benefit of the doubt rule. If the video ref cannot conclusively tell then it should be handed back to the on field ref. If the video ref cannot tell after looking at it 5 times then he cannot tell.  Instead it seems they keep looking at a replay to either find a way to allow it or to disallow it depending on how the game has panned out.

On a harsher stance must be how the errors rate of officials is handled. I know it is their job but I am sure that in most professions, if you keep making mistakes you will find yourself unemployed.  I am not saying that after three errors a referee is sacked, but surely if a referee makes an error bad enough to be demoted then that must be seen as a warning. If the referees in the current crop aren't up to scratch then start looking at the Intrust Cup and Jim Beam Cup along with the Toyota Cup for replacements. 

There are also some other serious issues that need investigating by the NRL. It seems that certain rules are being neglected again.  FLOPS. Has this rule been forgotten, or is it now acceptable for the third man to come in on top after the tackle is made. TURTLING.  It seems that it is now ok to do this again to get into mark. Other issues that need cracking down on are the markers. There seems to be too much leniency on the markers not being square or standing too far back to be a marker, and more often than not the 2nd marker is about 5 metres back. Holding onto the markers, if it is a penalty to hold down the player after the tackle then it should be a penalty if the attacking payer holds down the tackler who is attempting to get up to go to marker. OFFSIDE. I feel this penalty is only found either when the ref wants to of there is a try scored and the ref wants to make sure everything is ok. Yet if a kick is caught by the fullback or wing, rarely will you see a penalty given for offside.

When a game goes to golden point then you can throw out the rule book, as you will rarely see a penalty given unless it is something really blatant or it is a dangerous incident. Everyone wants a game where a referee doesn't decide a game, but if a ref doesn't penalise what is an offence, then they are actually still deciding a game. 

On reflection all that one wants to see from the officials, is consistency. Consistency of good decisions, and very few poor decisions. Referees are human and will make errors, but when they keep making errors that is when it becomes a problem that if not addressed will only get worse.