Two Referee System? Keep It Or Ditch It?

[Flutterby]

So it's been a few years now since the NRL has operated under a two referee system. Notably no other country or level of RL or the international arena have adopted the system.

So what do people think? Is two referees working or should we go back to just one referee? What are the pros and cons?

For me, I was a supporter of the 2 ref system when it was first introduced; but now I am not so sure. I don't think the standard of refereeing has gotten any better, which is what was supposed to happen.

One of the prime reasons for the introduction of the second referee was specifically to better police the ruck area (esp given at the time the amount of furoure over Melbourne's grapple tackles); however there is still so much in the ruck that is not being seen or penalised when it should. If there has been no improvement in policing of this area, then the main point of the second ref is redundant.

With two referees there is never really any referee fully in control of the game.

And not to mention the fact highlighted by the JT case this week - there is now more likelikhood of players and referees colliding. In fact there have been 3 times as many collisions since the system was introduced (according to Sports Data).

On the positive side, it does give younger, newer referees the opportunity to referee at NRL level as there are more spots up for grabs each weekend (however this could also been seen as a negative with referees being given NRL matches before they are really ready).

There are more discussion points and this topic was prompted by this article http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/rugby-l ... 1gjef.html

So what's everyone's thoughts?

 

[Kimlo]

It's not going to go anywhere I don't think.
I think it has its benefits, I don't see a reason to get rid of it though, I think in future we'll have more experience good quality refs, so from that perspective I think it has value.

 

[Kaz]

Ditch it.

Some games, it's like watching 2 games of football. One ref could interprete a rule differently to the other one.

There doesn't seem to be any consistency with them. (except that they can all be shyte)

 

[Nashy]

Until NRL refs can be consistent across all games, it's useless.

See Archer and Suttor. Archer is a really good ref (Dunno where he gets a bad wrap from), and Suttor is fucking hopeless.

 

[Coxy]

Archer is a shit, biased ref. But alongside Suttor he looks brilliant

 

[Nashy]

Archer is a shit, biased ref. But alongside Suttor he looks brilliant

Disagree. I think he does a good job.

 

[Big Pete]

I HATE how Archer refs a game.

I usually don't take any notice of the refs and very rarely recall good or bad performances but he's the king of obscure relieving penalties that gets teams back in the game.

He's terrible at taking responsibility as well. I actually recall a good instance of this. In the Dragons/Titans game a few weeks ago the Titans get pinged on two bad forward pass calls and naturally the players appeal to Archer. So what does Archer say? 'I'm sorry but I HAVE to go with my touchy'. WTF, no you don't you're THE boss out there.

How he came to be considered the best ref in the game is a mystery to me.

EDIT: Also whenever a big call needs to be made he seems to just let the play go on...even if there was like 2 or 3 offsides, a forward pass and a nudist interceptting the ball and injurying Matai.

 

[WayBDay]

I HATE how Archer refs a game.

I usually don't take any notice of the refs and very rarely recall good or bad performances but he's the king of obscure relieving penalties that gets teams back in the game.

He's terrible at taking responsibility as well. I actually recall a good instance of this. In the Dragons/Titans game a few weeks ago the Titans get pinged on two bad forward pass calls and naturally the players appeal to Archer. So what does Archer say? 'I'm sorry but I HAVE to go with my touchy'. WTF, no you don't you're THE boss out there.

How he came to be considered the best ref in the game is a mystery to me.

He's just saying he has to go with his touchy because they have the better view. You'd know that it
s near on impossible to judge a close forward pass from the refs position if you have reffed a game.

I think people make too much of a fuss about refs calls. Just accept it and move on. It never was and never will be perfect. 2 refs gives another set of eyes and I haven't seen enough negative points to scrap it.

As an outsider who reads this forum, almost all of you think the refs are against you all the time anyway even though you nearly always win the penalty counts, so I doubt they could win whatever they do :P

 

[Big Pete]

Blind Freddy could have told him those passes were fine. He didn't have to go with the touchies, he just did because he's incompetant and his inability to accept responsibility annoys me.

I agree with the rest of your post. It's how it's always been though. If it wasn't for the reasonable pay packet, being a ref would easily be one of the worst jobs in the world.

EDIT: Brisbane win most penalty counts because we rarely abuse the ruck and we're by far one of the more disciplined sides in the comp. Flopcke and Gee aren't around anymore either.