The Sunday Mail wants your help

[Kaz]

They want us to send these to Bill Harrigan.

 

[Alec]

"Robbed" is a bit harsh, I doubt they would have won either way. The refereeing this year has been the worst I've ever seen it though. There needs to be a massive overhaul.

 

[user_nat]

"Robbed" is a bit harsh, I doubt they would have won either way. The refereeing this year has been the worst I've ever seen it though. There needs to be a massive overhaul.

Agreed. The decision was woeful, but Manly were the better team.

 

[jarro65]

An overhaul is long overdue, and i hope they tart from the top.

Bill and Stu are not doing the business !!

 

[Broncoman]

Harrigan wasn't the guy who awarded them send it to the homes of Steve Clark and Paul Simpkins who actually were running the video. To say they were robbed is an over exaggeration they could've gotten back into the game and given themselves a chance of victory if they didn't act like heroes in the last 20 minutes. Manly also were the better team on the night. Grow a set princess's you lost simple as that, just enjoy Mad Monday and focus on next year's season.

 

[m1c]

lol a bit like the Daily Telegraph's online trolling campaign. It's been on front page spreads and endorsed by some big names yet their petition has only ~700 signatures after a week. lols

 

[Kaz]

lol a bit like the Daily Telegraph's online trolling campaign. It's been on front page spreads and endorsed by some big names yet their petition has only ~700 signatures after a week. lols

I think it was full steam ahead, until the SMH found out that Farah was a troll as well.

 

[Kaz]

Harrigan wasn't the guy who awarded them send it to the homes of Steve Clark and Paul Simpkins who actually were running the video.

But he is training them.

If people read it properly, is says Help the video refs get it right. (meaning Harrigan can pass the glasses onto the video refs)

 

[Coxy]

Cowboys completely lost heart after that decision. I think robbed is reasonable. At 16-12 with about 20 to go, every chance. 22-12 and 2 laughable decisions against them, they figured it was hopeless against 19 players.

 

[Dexter]

Tate made as bad a decision as the refs by not passing but nothing much has been mentioned. It was a woeful decision from a so called professional. 22 - 18 down with 10 to go and it's a different game.

 

[Son Edo]

Cowboys completely lost heart after that decision. I think robbed is reasonable. At 16-12 with about 20 to go, every chance. 22-12 and 2 laughable decisions against them, they figured it was hopeless against 19 players.

Yep, those decisions broke the Cowboys will. They had to play catch up footy, which led them to making mistakes. With only 1 try down, they would've kept their composure and might've come up with the match winning play.

 

[Kimlo]

Cowboys completely lost heart after that decision. I think robbed is reasonable. At 16-12 with about 20 to go, every chance. 22-12 and 2 laughable decisions against them, they figured it was hopeless against 19 players.

Yep. The attitude that refs don't lose you a game is BS IMO. RL is such a close game that referee decisions have a huge impact on the result and they can easily cost you a game.

 

[Ari Gold]

Let's not forget the Cowboys levelled things up on that Taufua no strip call to begin with. IMO the Taufua try was a fair try, so you have the Cows scoring off a dodgy no strip call and Manly scoring off a dodgy benefit of the doubt call. Whilst the Foran "no touch" was a much less forgivable mistake because it was from the video referees, in the context of the score itself it's 1 each.

 

[Big Pete]

On Cowboys/Manly...that whole Foran debacle completely exposes just what's wrong with Rugby League. Now, I hate it when people blame referees, commentators and fans give them way too much attention and really I think the whole sport would be better off if we didn't give them as much attention as we do but for two of our supposed best video refs. to miss the obvious just made me feel ashamed to be a Rugby League fan and opened my mind to how bush league our code still is.

Referees just have way too much power. I hate it how teams are penalised 30m for a tackle that will occur 30 times a game but will only draw that punishment once or twice. I don't like how we're costing teams points based on tries we clearly can't deem tries but will regardless. Then of course, they'll give tries that are blatant no tries!

Throw in other crap like Origin and the impact it has on the code, player recruitment and how the ARL refuses to assist clubs retain players who are under threat of other codes (unless they're from NSW) and just how bush league our game is covered. We allow journalists to bestow players with not only official yearly awards, but they're in control of the most revered hall of fame group in the game. Those involved in the media either spend more time making the players look like idiots through out-dated 'hey hey it's Saturday' television that should have died in the 90s or being PC as possible otherwise sooks like Robbie Farah are going to go to Twitter and cry themselves to sleep.

I know a lot is changing in the code and I'm keen to see what the IC has in store because the game needs to grow and become as good as what it should be. We need to make the big decisions, the NRL cannot afford to keep appealing to those 'back in my day' types and evolve into a god damn professional sport that isn't at the mercy of incompetent officials & the out-dated flawed systems of the past.

It's about time we reward fair dinkum the best clubs in the sport.

And hey, I still think Manly were the better team & the Cows played as big apart of their demise as the officials did. But for them to come up with that error in that game just made me feel so ashamed & to see other rules like the Taufua 'grounding', torso tries, the sus Taufua try etc. etc. just makes me think that we're wasting our time.

Harrigan is dead-set gone. I don't see how the IC will keep him on and the entire system will be revamped.

 

[OXY-351]

Get rid of the video ref. The on field refs are using it far too much these days, and given the way it's beign used, is it really leading to better decisions?

It wouldn't surprise me if the on field refs thought that Foran had knocked it on, but didn't rule on it, rather allowing the play to carry on and see what eventuated. If Lyon doesn't get rid of the ball, what do the refs do then? Do they rule a turnover for Foran knocking it on, or do they reset the tackle count and allow play to go on for Thurston touching the ball.

If the latter happens and Manly score, they can't go back and check the Foran knock on. I'd put money on that had Lyon been tackled with the ball, the refs would have ruled a turn over because at normal speed it looked like Foran knocked the ball on. Forgot about viewing the replay frame by frame trying to analyze every aspect of it. If it looks like a knock on, try, high tackle etc at normal speed, then just rule on it and move on with the game. The refs are too scared to make big calls these days in the hope they can get the video ref to review it if it leads to a try.

I say get rid of the video ref, and make the on field refs more accountable and force them to make the decisions. At the moment there are too many officials inolved in making the decisions, and I think this is ultimately harming the correct decisions being made, rather than aiding it .

 

[Nashy]

Here's what should be done IMO.

- 3 Refs on field. Two touch judges, and the bloke with the whistle.
- 2 Video refs.
- No benefit of the doubt. If it can't be determined by two video refs within a 60 second period, it's no try.
- No refs call. If the ref knows, why send it upstairs.
- Fire the current useless ****s who are looking after the nuffies.
- Get the rules audited professionally by someone who knows nothing about league. Come back and state all the grey areas.
- Make all grey areas black and white.
- Teach the refs, and tell them they now have a 4 warning rule. **** up 4 times in a season, you're not an NRL ref.
- Clone Tony Archer. Say what you want about him, he is simply the best ref.

 

[Culhwch]

Get rid of the video ref. The on field refs are using it far too much these days, and given the way it's beign used, is it really leading to better decisions?

The problem with this idea is that if you get rid of the video refs, we're still living in an age of super slow mo instant replies of everything, so when the on-field ref gets something wrong, they're the ones who get crucified instead of the men upstairs. For every fan who would cop the obvious-in-hindsight bad decisions, I'd wager there would be more than one who would scream blue murder, especially if it cost his team the game.

It's been brought up here any number of times (which makes me wonder why it's so obvious to us and not to the idiots running the game) but the benefit of the doubt rule is the biggest contributer to the current abysmal state of video refereeing. Give benefit of the doubt to the defending team and I bet that one change improves the refereeing no end. Also can the second referee on the field, and allow for challenges to bad calls, and you're on the road to a fairer game and better product.