How long have we been saying, it’s time to limit the involvement of the NRL Bunker?
Unfortunately modern technology is here to stay in professional sport, but in my opinion the rugby league referees have become too reliant on it and they’re still making mistakes.
The Bunker was introduced in 2016 to help eradicate “howler” decisions and get more calls correct using special technology which includes multiple camera angles, yet those people operating the multi-million dollar facility at Redfern continue to get it wrong.
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Jared Maxwell is the General Manager of Elite Officiating and he’s overseeing a system that’s frustrating the fans, commentators, coaches and players of the game. The referees boss – who we never hear from publicly – explained to me at the start of the season that the necessary changes had been made to “speed up the process” and by using the top whistle-blowers in the Bunker, they’d prove more effective.
Well, sadly Jared it’s getting worse.
Graham Annesley has some decisions to make at the end of the season when the Head of Football sits down to review 2023. He’ll get together with the various committees and examine the pie-charts and numbers highlighting everything from ‘ball in play’ to the ‘stoppages in the game’.
They also need to listen to the common complaint from everyone in the game; the Bunker.
I think the time has come for all stakeholders in the game to come together to examine the best way forward for the video referee. Let’s involve the whistle-blowers, coaching and player delegates, members of the media and the executive of the NRL.
All we seem to do is complain about the Bunker, so let’s work together to come up with a process and system that achieves what it was designed to do; “eliminate the howler.”
Not only would it be beneficial, it would prove the NRL is willing to listen to the concerns.
For mine, the biggest issue is the nit-picking from those in the Bunker who examine every tackle with a fine-tooth comb looking for acts of foul play. It happened on the weekend when Jack De Belin was sent to the sin-bin for a hip-drop tackle.
Play was allowed to continue in the match between St George Illawarra and Manly at WIN Stadium in Wollongong, however when Christian Tuipulotu was being attended to by the trainer who was merely strapping his knee, the Bunker stepped in because Kasey Badger found evidence of a hip-drop tackle and De Belin was giving his marching orders.
Interim Dragons coach Ryan Carr let fly after the game declaring “the game stopped for nearly two minutes for a guy to get his knee strapped…either leave the field or play on.”
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“It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous” said Carr.
He’s right. Haven’t we got the NRL match review committee whose responsibility it is to examine acts of foul play that aren’t picked up during the run of play?
It’s no wonder we’ve got players lying down for penalties and to get their team a leg-up.
In the same game on Saturday night, video referee Kasey Badger confused everyone when she was asked to review a potential try scored by Dan Russell. Badger said “the ball is grounded…he’s clearly over the line”, but supported the on-field decision of no try.
I first studied the rugby league rulebook nearly 30 years ago and I always thought when the ball is grounded over the line it’s a try.
The interim Dragons coach was left scratching his head. “The wording that I was given was he’s got the ball down, we just need to figure out if he’s over the tryline,” Carr said.
“The next wording was Dan Russell is clearly over the tryline and it’s contradictory to a no try.
“In a big moment it hurts. You’re fighting as hard as you can to get a try.”
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Let’s not beat around the bush, the St George Illawarra Dragons were dudded.
NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley is forced to stand there at Rugby League Central every Monday and explain the decisions, but there seems to be very little accountability because the same people are either back in the Bunker or refereeing the next week.
Jared Maxwell needs to explain why he’s reluctant to usher through the next generation of referees who are plying their trade in the NSW Cup and Queensland Cup waiting for their opportunity.
I’ve been told only a handful of match officials were promoted to the NRL squad this year.
The elite officiating ranks need some fresh blood when you consider they’re not only refereeing the men’s game at the moment, they’ve also got the NRLW competition.
Why are we restricting touch-judges to only running the line when they’re obviously capable referees themselves?
Why aren’t we promoting those whistle-blowers from the NSWRL and QRL?
Why aren’t we mentoring and ushering through the female officials to control the NRLW?
We talk about the importance of pathways in rugby league and it should be the same when it comes to match officials because without them we don’t have a game.
In my opinion, it’s time for a fresh approach to the referees and instead of calling up the next member of the “boys club” as it’s been described to me, which has been allowed to fester under Tony Archer and Jared Maxwell, let’s install someone who’s willing to make the necessary changes and reward those deserving of their crack at the NRL.
The referees have been plagued by a lack of leadership for too long and it’s got to change.
We’re talking about an incredible group of men and women who rise through the ranks because of their unbelievable ability to make decisions under pressure.
I think it’s a disgrace that the systems in place have resulted in a lack of confidence which in turn has promoted the whistle-blowers to second guess themselves. The referees have the toughest job in rugby league, but they are being let down by the people who are turning them into robots.
I wrote last year about the ‘National Methodology’ which came into effect in 2016-17 and is still being used today all the way from the junior league to the NRL. It requires referees to identify tackle types and then communicate a phrase that matches the tackle.
Seriously, it’s called “ruck vocab”.
I’m surprised this has been allowed under Graham Annesley, who’s a former decorated referee himself. Imagine the response from Greg Hartley or Bill Harrigan if they were instructed to use “ruck vocab”.
Rugby league is a simple game, but we’ve somehow managed to complicate things to the point where it’s confusing everyone.
It’s time to strip everything back and let the officials referee with a feel for the game.
Let me know your thoughts by sending through an email to the WWOS Radio show on 2GB by clicking on this link; https://form.jotform.co/70601482897867
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