NRL 2022: Ricky Stuart savages referee standard in dramatic fallout to Raiders loss to Dragons
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has doubled down on his ref rage, launching a brutal attack on the standard of officiating as he struggled to come to grips with Sunday’s controversial loss.
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A fed-up Ricky Stuart has launched a scathing attack on the overall standard of NRL refereeing, declaring “the system is broken”.
It comes after the NRL was forced into damage control following another round marred by refereeing howlers and growing coach, player and fan outrage.
Stuart told The Daily Telegraph he had been contacted by several rival NRL coaches on Monday “ringing me up and sharing the same frustrations”.
The NRL was already under fire after Trent Robinson fired up after the Roosters finished on the wrong side of a stack of controversial calls in the tough loss to the Panthers.
Then on Sunday the Raiders were denied a crucial final play penalty under the posts in the 12-10 loss to St George Illawarra.
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NRL head of football Graham Annesley has since confirmed referee Peter Gough got the call wrong and “a penalty should have been awarded”.
But not only should Ben Hunt have been penalised for not standing square at marker, he should have been sin binned given it was the second indiscretion in the same tackle after Gough had called a six-again for a ruck infringement.
That would have sent the match into golden point with the Dragons star playmaker out of the game.
Instead, the Dragons walked away with two crucial competition points to lock up eighth spot on the ladder, while the Raiders are now four points adrift in 11th.
Stuart said he just couldn’t understand why referee Gough didn’t blow his whistle, especially when Hunt had blatantly committed the professional foul right in front of the ref.
“The system is broken,” Stuart told The Daily Telegraph.
“All the teams are fighting for survival.
“And here I have a referee that won’t blow his whistle on not one but two indiscretions in the one tackle.
“Right under the posts with the game on the line, and us fighting for semi-final survival.”
Stuart was trying hard to contain his frustration but it is the second time this year a terrible refereeing blunder has cost his team a potential victory.
The other occasion was when Matt Lodge took a blatant dive to win a controversial penalty that gifted the Warriors a win at Redcliffe.
The irony back then was that the onfield referee had actually ignored Lodge’s antics, but it was the bunker that came in and ruled in the Warriors’ favour.
“This is not the first time this year it has happened to this team,” Stuart added.
“It just blows me away. I am not the only frustrated coach.
“I’ve had other coaches today ringing me up and sharing the same frustrations.
“The job is hard enough let alone looking at that tackle and walking off thinking to myself, ‘why did he not blow the whistle?’
“There is some reason why he didn’t blow the whistle, and for the life of me I don’t understand why.”
Several coaches including Todd Payten and Justin Holbrook have already come out this year and expressed frustration at a perceived bias towards the bigger and more powerful clubs.
Stuart would not comment on that.
3 PENALTIES IN 10SEC: NRL’S SHOCKING REFEREE ADMISSION
- By Dean Ritchie
The NRL has conceded St George Illawarra star Ben Hunt could have been penalised – or even sin-binned – for three separate infringements inside a dramatic final 10 seconds against Canberra on Sunday.
At the NRL briefing on Monday, new video and on-field audio of the final two plays in Wollongong showed Hunt being one metre off-side, then flopping on tackled Canberra player Joseph Tapine before tackling Raiders dummy half Tom Starling when not square at marker.
NRL executive general manager – elite football, Graham Annesley, admitted all three transgressions could have attracted penalties which could have sent the game - with the Dragons leading 12-10 - into golden point.
Annesley denied referee Peter Gough wasn’t “brave” enough to punish Hunt but acknowledged any decision - with the teams separated by just two points - would have created post-game drama.
The NRL also recognised referee Gerard Sutton blundered after penalising Roosters hooker Sam Verrills for a dangerous throw on Panthers forward Scott Sorenson during a match on Friday night.
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An NRL referees appointment panel will determine on Tuesday whether Gough and Sutton are dropped or demoted.
The Hunt last-second play – where he prematurely snuck around the side of the ruck to tackle Starling – angered Raiders coach Ricky Stuart.
Just seconds earlier, with Hunt moving early defensively, on-field audio picks up Gough yelling: “Hold the line. Ben Hunt, one metre, Ben.”
Then with Hunt flopping on Tapine, Gough screams: “Last tackle, release Ben. Ben!”
Hunt then moved to the side of the ruck and wrestled Starling as Gough could hear the countdown to full-time through audio from a match official.
“We believe that a penalty should have been awarded in this instance for a couple of reasons,” Annesley said. “You will hear the referee call out Ben Hunt for three different instances.
“One involving 10 metres, or at least the touch judge calls him for 10 metres, then for flopping on Tapine before he plays the ball, and he gives six-again for that.
“A lot of people thought that he called the six again for Ben Hunt going around and making the tackle on the dummy half but he didn’t do that. He (Gough) makes a decision that the tackle was legitimate. It was for Hunt flopping. You can see Hunt falls off. Tapine is on the ground with someone on top of him.
“Hunt then moves around to the marker position, and as it‘s picked up at dummy half, he moves around and tackles the marker. It’s a relatively close call in terms of whether he is square or not.
“We have looked at it, and don’t have a directly in line view, but in our view, it’s impossible to say that he is perfectly square. You can see Hunt was standing partially to the side (of the ruck) to get around and tackle the dummy half. In our assessment, the correct call would have been a penalty.
“In most instances where you see that type of tackle it will result in a penalty. In our view, that should have been a penalty. Whatever way the referee went with this it would have been controversial.
“But I would never say a referee is not brave otherwise they wouldn’t be on the field. He decided in this case that the penalty wasn’t warranted and we disagreed. It’s not about apologising - people make errors.”
Asked whether all three of Hunt’s offences could have resulted in penalties, Annesley said: “Yes, I do. Of course, if he penalises the first one we don’t see the second or third.”
Annesley stopped short of suggesting Hunt’s actions were deliberate – but were professional fouls.
“(But) there becomes a point in these instances where the referee has to determine whether it‘s an error by the defender, or a deliberate error in a crucial situation designed to try and stop the team from scoring with just seconds left, in which case it fall into the category of professional foul,“ Annesley said.
“Any of those three instances could have been determined to be a professional foul and could have resulted in not only a penalty but a sin bin. A player is doing everything he can to win the game. This is not a bash-up of the Dragons or Ben Hunt.”
Annesley also believed Sutton committed a mistake by penalising Verrills with Penrith forward Viliame Kikau scoring a decisive try in the next set.
“Verrills crouches and makes what most would agree was a copybook around-the-legs tackle,” Annesley said. “Sorenson goes over his shoulder. There’s no lift at all.
“We don’t believe there’s any reason why this tackle should have been penalised.”
Annesley backed a decision to sin bin Roosters player Angus Crichton for a professional foul on Panthers centre Stephen Crichton.
PVL’s fierce backing of referees
- Paul Crawley
Peter V’landys has come out swinging in defence of the NRL’s under fire referees, while declaring the controversial six-again rule is here to stay and there are no plans to bring back a second ref.
After a weekend of outrage and confusion following some potentially season-defining howlers, the ARL Commission chairman also reminded everyone the refs are “human”.
Though he maintains the controversy often comes down to different opinions.
“It (the controversy) is not isolated to rugby league,” V’landys said.
“Any sport that has a person that uses discretion is going to have controversy.
“You look at the sports over the weekend (rugby union and AFL). Every one of them where the referees use discretion is criticised.
“So it is not isolated to rugby league.
“And it is part of the game.
“It is the rub of the green.
“Sometimes your team gets a line ball call and sometimes they don’t.
“I don’t get upset about it because it is part of the game.
“We have different views and different opinions.”
And V’landys says coaches need to remember “you’ve got to take the good with the bad”.
“What annoys me with the coaches is one week some of the calls may go against you, and the following week they may come for you.
“I haven’t heard a coach yet when they have had the rub of the green complain.
“But as soon as they don’t get the rub of the green they complain.”
Though for the Raiders and the Roosters the calls that went against them on the weekend could end up having a huge bearing on their top eight hopes this year.
The Raiders were rightfully furious after the 12-10 loss to the Dragons when Ben Hunt escaped being penalised for not standing square for the final play-the-ball.
That should have resulted in a conversion attempt in front of the posts to send the match into golden point.
There was also huge controversy following the Roosters loss to the Panthers with Trent Robinson facing a fine for his post match comments at referee Gerard Sutton.
The lack of 50-50 calls that didn’t go the Roosters way has also led to a lot of debate about whether the six-again rule is working, with many saying the referee’s discretion over what constitutes ruck infringements is confusing and not consistent.
But V’landys added, regardless of whether it was a penalty or six-again, it still comes down to the ref’s discretion.
“The difference is, without the six-again he would penalise them,” V’landys said.
“So he is using the same discretion either way. If you got rid of the six-again you are going to have a mountain of penalties.
“Look, I can only go on the discussions I have with people.
“There is very vocal minority that get on Twitter and carry on.
“But overall everywhere I go they say it has made the game entertaining, it has brought the brilliant players back into vogue and it has also got rid of the wrestle.”
V’landys was also strong about why he continues to support one referee.
“Look, at this stage I don’t think there is any necessity to go backwards (to two refs),” V’landys added.
“I don’t think that is going to make any difference whatsoever.
“The point with that is when we got rid of the second referee we improved the calibre of the touch judges because those second referees went into becoming touch judges.
“Those touch judges should be more involved, and they are to a certain degree.
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