There are a couple of teams in the comp the same as us, Dogs get away with nothing, the Faiders are Melbourne in their approach but get pinged far more often.
It has to be a mentality by the group of refs that certain teams require heavy discipline. Also, the NRL cannot have the Storm finished outside the 8, their fans will go straight back to AFL…
And that’s what I dislike most about the storm and the NRL’s treatment of them.
Here we have heartland areas such as Ipswitch, Redcliff, Mackay and Rocky showing theirs support for the game during COVID, and fighting for a mythical promotion to the NRL, while the NRL bows to the mighty news Corp dollar with Melbourne, who 90% of league and AFL fans couldn’t give two hoots about.
A special breed indeed
I don’t mind them being in the comp, but their is an obvious bias towards them from the refs. The storm throw more forward passes (even with Smith gone) than any other team, particularly from dummy half, yet it always goes unchecked.
I want to see how their supporter base is when they don’t make the 8 for 2 years running, or better still, come 15th. I want the slimies to get the spoon every year 
Just re-read the topic of refereeing started July 2018, interesting comments. It also looks like the league review our portal because alot of what we have said / suggested here has been implemented 
I was going to comment on the Broncs Knights farce from last week with the no try grounding and the shepherd/attacker in the defense line (both happened in the 1 play) and how the bunker in particular got it wrong. I have also read that Dessy will be getting hit hard with a fine for his comments re a 9-2 penalty count against the featherweenies…that was robbery and the ref had an agenda.
Also, the comments from Todd Payten re top teams getting benefits is also aligned to a comment i made about the lower teams being penalised more, it is clearly happening !
BUT - we have said all these things to death. I personally don’t see any great change with each game appearing to have some kind of agenda built into it.
What i will say though, Is Penrith appear to have had the ref coached out of them, we no longer stand and argue, we get straight back into defense mindset. This i believe to be the difference in many of our results.
I have been moved to revive this topic by last night’s game by the sheer incompetence of the game officials.
I have been watching RL since I was in single figures and followed the Panthers since '67. I have NEVER witnessed such pathetic refereeing or video officiating. Both need to be sacked from today!
I really didn’t care which team won, and will say I picked Storm in my tipping, only because they were the home team.
The ‘non’ shoulder charge was bizarre & I note that Walsh was charged by match review committee. The penalty try was also bizarre, with initial illegal contact by the attacker, who then props on his run resulting in the chaser running into him. Even if they ruled interference by the chaser, the try was never going to be scored.
There were then i series of wrong decisions, including the BS hip drop, & then the final straw was taking likely the try of the year off Storm as the ginger ninjer somehow found a knock-on on a ball that clearly hit the guy with a stone for a head IN THE HEAD - that’s why it rebounded so far!!
Also the game was played in slow motion & ran over 2 hours in elapsed time as the game was stopped incessantly.
I honestly have never seen anything like it, well at least since Don McDonald handed in his whistle. I sat there stunned for several minutes after full-time.
I can just imagine the excuses from the clown apologist for refs and bunker on Monday.
The game elapsed 130 minutes in total. 56 minutes of actual gameplay.
When less than half of the game is made up of actual gameplay and the rest in stoppages and refereeing you have to start to wonder if the officials had lost the plot last night.
Good post mrwalker. The hip drop has me even more confused than the 6 again.
The bunker has totally lost the plot - seems like their raison d’etre is to find any excuse to disallow a try.
The bunker should be there to correct howlers; not to nit-pick.
Yet when there is an obvious infringement like the forward pass in the warriors first try, no objection from the video ref is made.
As I have said before - the mystery penalty of the “hip drop” confuses the hell out of me and every other fan of the game.
That said, we wouldn’t have all these rules and stoppages if it wasn’t for Bellamy always looking for a ruck advantage to flaunt the rules.
As I said in another thread I think fatigue, due to the speeding up of the game, is a big factor in some of the refereeing problems. This doesn’t excuse the bunker though…
I watched a couple of games over the weekend and if you want to pick the howler of the week, IMO it’s that poonce who runs on his tippy toes that did the Cowboys/Dragons game. Don’t get me wrong, the Dragons were poor and have alot of work to do on attitude BUT they were on the attack waiting for a repeat set, short kick off that is blatantly knocked forward by Coen Hess allowed to play on, they get down field and hold down in the tackle, get someone sent to the bin but don’t challenge the knock on. I saw 3 to 4 times where the Cowboys held the player up after the held call with the arm on the ball…each only incurred a 6 again.
I also love how the downtown is now a thing again…
The Canberra v featherweenies was another cracker with shit decision BUT o’l mate BA was the one complaining about the refs His team were the ones that got the rub of the green IMO.
The Brisbane game was a farce.
Watched a clip on nrl.com about what is and what isn’t a hip-drop tackle. At slow speed and with the audio explanation it is possible to come to a decision. However, in real time it is nigh on impossible for the on-field referee to make a consistently correct call. I don’t want the bunker to referee the game so perhaps the hip-drop should only be examined by the review panel after the game.
The referee of the Storm/Broncos game Todd Smith has been demoted to touch-judge for this weekend, and the bunker official Gerard Sutton has been removed from bunker duties, but has still been appointed as referee for one of the games???
That’ll learn 'em - NOT!
Everyone is asking where the hip drop tackle came from, IMO it was Greg Eastwood, he did it numerous times before he got a result with Bryce Cartwright…
Was tonight’s game the first time in the history of the bunker that the red has overruled their decision?
I’m not a fan of his refereeing, and it was a bad miss on Friday night, but this is a bit much. I doubt any of the keyboard warriors could do a better job.
I was watching the Manly v Tigers last night, and with no care of the result i had a fairly open mind on the game. Manly started like a house on fire, got to a 16 nil scoreline, then the 50/50’s started to go with the Tigers. Some of the 6 agains were “what the hell was that for” again and again. Then someone went to the bin…The point is, I have referenced this about the Panthers, and any top side for that matter. The ref’s are ensuring where possible, the game remains a close contest…I get it, from a viewing standpoint it’s a good look, but from a passionate spectator, it’s not a good look.
The Pennies have almost mastered the slow start, however we still see the refs blowing early favours, because they know we will come back, we are renowned for it.
I just wish every game was evenly adjudicated without bias - it’s a game with rules, rule accordingly.
6 Again. Guess again.
Until fans vote with their feet, and channel surf away from 9 and fox I unfortunately don’t see things changing.
It’s becoming too common to just be a coincidence- referees and the bunker are conspiring results.
Last nights Warriors game v Dogs. Crichton makes a blatant shoulder charge to the head, stays on the field compared to lessor offences getting 10 in the bin on Thursday night.
It sure seems that results, upsets and tight games are being manufactured for our viewing pleasure.
The 6 again…it didn’t take long for Coaches to work it out. Penalties inside the 40 but outside the 40 massive lee way, unless of course the ref gets a bug bear going and flogs it just so he can “make a scene”.
The Raiders game however, we were given 4 penalties in a row inside their 10, plus the 6 agains…No Action. A. Manly were ripped off and the flip side, Penrith were ripped off…their opposing sides not in the 8 GO FIGURE !!!
You are 100% right SHF, nothing will change, because I love the sport too much to talk with my feet.
This is what I have been banging on about for some time, the refereeing has a functional expectation to “support the game” rather than adjudicate on the contest at hand. The below is a snap from Annesley’s review. Why the hell do the refs care about TV ratings or crowd numbers? The last sentence speaks volumes about how they approach a result…
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