It’s official - refs are right, everyone else who watched the game was wrong

[Kevinward777]

I’d love to hear them try and explain how the bunker came to the decision to award that Rorters try. It’s one thing to come out and say they made an error...everyone (including the player involved) was aware of that fact from the get go. Walk us through the process that somehow convinced the match officials, who had multiple camera angles at their disposal and unlimited replay opportunities, to arrive at the conclusion that the most obvious of double knock ons was a try.

 

[maxta]

The real debate is to assess if Thompson knew the ball hit Hodgo - which I doubt he did. To allow a penalty it must be deemed he done so with purpose, not accidentally.
That pass - The touch judge was in line so I will never fathom how an NRL official at the top level could be incompetent to miss it.
Personally hate blaming 1 key moment over an 80 minute game, but gee that was a game changer.
The stopping in the line has been classified as an obstruction All season, so was also obvious.
No I’ve got that out, time to forget about it

 

[Narly]

It's a joke. These clowns are distroying the game. Just look at this year's state origin 1 & 2. No penalties great games, yet game 3 it was obvious NSW were going to lose. The refs blow so many penalties against NSW in the first half.
They could barely walk in the
second half.
half.

 

[EagleGT]

Yeah the stopping in the line one dumbfounded me. And the voice over at the ground from the wanker in the bunker clearly stated that the decoy runner went through the line untouched. Its just not true!! The decoy runner very clearly stopped IN the line.

I was dumbfounded by what I heard. It completely contradicted what was being shown on the screen. It was like Big Brother in "1984": "War is Peace". They were trying to tell us Black is White. Thompson actually had to run around the decoy runner to move over to try to defend.

What gets me though is that Thompson should have milked the situation. Every other team does. Are our players not taught to use the rules to their advantage? If Thompson had run into the decoy runner and flailed his arms around (like every other team does), it wouldn't have been a try. I hate this obstruction crap where it's obvious the defender was never going to get to make a tackle, but it has been called on us so many times this year that we should have wised up to how it works by now. We need to play smarter. This was an obstruction by the current "interpretation" of the rules, but you have to exaggerate the play because the officials are so dumb they won't see it, or rule on it otherwise.

 

[bob dylan]

I knew Backdoor Bernie would have a different take on things to me.

Actually I'm glad he does.

 

[SeaEagle21]

I don’t know the rules probably as we as others on here but the part that confuses me is the ball came off Hodko’s head (he can’t disappear so unintentional didn’t jump to header it etc). How is that any different then when the ball is going dead and a player throws it into a defender who didn’t play at it and it’s a ball to the defending team as it was not played at? Especially when Vunivalu knocked it back into Hodko?

I think at worst scrum feed at best played on? Again i’m probably looking at it from a biased perspective but Hodko didn’t make a play at the ball from the footage i saw. If it hit him in the back and Thompson jumped on it is it the same ruling?

 

[Mark from Brisbane]

The odds are pretty fair that a monumental officiating screw up has an impact on the Grand Final result. Unfortunately, the script has already been written, and barring some sort of natural disaster, Scam and Billy will got the “fairytale” GF win, with Scam getting MOTM. The game will be steered their way in the same way that these games have been influenced all year, and there’s a half chance they may retire after they win it. You’re also talking Dally M’s for them both... Dally M hooker will be Scam, Fullback will be Studs Up, Halfback will be Thurston, and one of those three will be Dally M player of the year.

Throw ya house on it. But please, gamble responsibly!

The script is being written as we type, imagine the ratings for a Scam / Studs First retirement after winning Dally M’s, player if the Origin series , Clive Churchill Medal and GF winners.

Every part of this game is now driven by TV ratings , teams that rate the best are given prime time FTA games and games are manufactured to appeal to the masses.

Oh sure not every game goes to script but they work on as many as possible doing so.

That’s what 1.5 billion buys you everyone , not just the rights to show the games but the rights to decide the draw , many of the games and who will be there at the end!!

 

[The Wheel]

The referees will never get better while they keep appointing retired incompetent referees to manage the current incompetent bunch of try hards.

 

[niccipops]

The referees will never get better while they keep appointing retired incompetent referees to manage the current incompetent bunch of try hards.

And they know if they challenge the NRL they lose their jobs.
The NRL appears to be a dictatorship. #talkupthegameorloseyourjob Even the blokes on the ABC radio are very tentative about the way they respond to fans challenging NRL decisions.
I remember listening to fans talking about scrapping Golden Point. I'm pretty sure most polls have revealed that fans want to go back to the draw with 1 point each. Of course the radio blokes said the NRL had it right because GP was exciting and the fans want a result.
Everyone I've spoken to hates it.
Fans want games at suburban grounds and the NRL wants super stadiums which will see 8000 die-hards turn up and make the game look like a joke.
Morons.
End Thursday morning rant!

 

[MuzztheEagle]

And they know if they challenge the NRL they lose their jobs.
The NRL appears to be a dictatorship. #talkupthegameorloseyourjob Even the blokes on the ABC radio are very tentative about the way they respond to fans challenging NRL decisions.
I remember listening to fans talking about scrapping Golden Point. I'm pretty sure most polls have revealed that fans want to go back to the draw with 1 point each. Of course the radio blokes said the NRL had it right because GP was exciting and the fans want a result.
Everyone I've spoken to hates it.
Fans want games at suburban grounds and the NRL wants super stadiums which will see 8000 die-hards turn up and make the game look like a joke.
Morons.
End Thursday morning rant!

The NRL no longer cares about "us" fans, it's all about future fans and growing the game (or more accurately the revenue generated by the game) and the history and spirit of rugby league is being eroded every day. The really sad thing is, it's not just RL, it's just about all sport in Australia and I fear we are in real danger of losing the culture that I grew up and with it the idea that sport is for everyone to enjoy - and by sport I mean sport, not the spectacle of watching two teams play each other to see who wins.

 

[BOZO]

This ref crap has been going on since the refs put a whistle in their mouth.
Teams will never change the refs incompetency but they can change theirs to make a difference in a game .

 

[BrendonStarr]

Well as seen in SOO 3 even a team of champions like NSW are no match for the refs when the desired outcome is already decided.

 

[Fluffy]

This ref crap has been going on since the refs put a whistle in their mouth.
Teams will never change the refs incompetency but they can change theirs to make a difference in a game .

fans will never change a team but can change the direction of the game if they are honest and open

 

[BOZO]

fans will never change a team but can change the direction of the game if they are honest and open

Good luck with that

 

[HoldenV8]

And they know if they challenge the NRL they lose their jobs.

Just take a look at how far Cecchin has fallen down the pecking order since that Sharks vs Broncos game at Endeavour when he blew 32 penalties, taking their newly installed edict right to the limit and beyond.

He went from being considered the best referee of the current crop (which is hardly something to brag about anyway), to being just another ham and egger who lost out to that incompetent fool Klein and ref's boss Sutton's own brother for Origin.

For all intents and purposes, Cecchin made a stand for common sense that night, and has paid the price by no longer being considered by the league as their top ref.

 

[BOZO]

Error free human being ?
Never has been and there will never be .
The reality is we must accept human error as inevitable.

 

[MuzztheEagle]

Error free human being ?
Never has been and there will never be .
The reality is we must accept human error as inevitable.

And why the NRL should implement a rule system that mere mortals can understand and enforce, rather than one with so many complexities and grey areas that influence and not just errors can occur.

 

[BOZO]

And why the NRL should implement a rule system that mere mortals can understand and enforce, rather than one with so many complexities and grey areas that influence and not just errors can occur.

You make a very good point but the NRL like all of us makes errors
Which organization is error free ?

 

[Ned]

1st, yes the forward pass and dummy runner in the line were wrong, but every close game there is this issue of "this decision cost us the game" from the losing side. Like Bozo said above they're not perfect and are guaranteed to make at least 1 mistake that the losing side can come back and complain about. Sadly the losing side for the most part has been us this season but we occasionally get them to go our way i.e Uate against Newcastle last year and Jamie Lyon hand of god against the Cowboys.

I don't think the referees are corrupt but the NRL loves close games, especially golden point. This is why the referees blow catch up penalties I think, not through instruction but even if your boss doesn't say directly "we want close games" when the media around the close ones is so positive and all the footy shows are talking about how good it was to have a close game or golden point you tend to just go that way automatically, thus catch up penalties become the norm.

I personally think that if golden point was removed and after 80 we just had a draw allot of this catch up garbage would go away, but as it keeps TV audiences looking at the NRL longer expect close games to happen more and more often, and thus more complaints about referee/bunker mistakes.

 

[MuzztheEagle]

You make a very good point but the NRL like all of us makes errors
Which organization is error free ?

Errors are acceptable - it's how you deal with them when they happen. The best organizations (and individuals) still stuff up, but when they do they learn from them and improve as a result.
The NRL's response to any issue of late has been to deny that it exists and this is the sign of a failing business.