Gorden Tallis: Wake up and lay off the refs, they aren’t the problem

The rugby league community is continually giving referees a hard time over everything they possibly can, but the game is at fault, not the officials, writes Gorden Tallis.

Gorden Tallis believes NRL referees are being unfairly treated. Picture: Tony Feder

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You might find this hard to believe given my run-ins with Billy Harrigan back in the day but I’m really feeling for the referees in the NRL at the moment.

They are under siege every weekend from all sections of the rugby league community.

They are the ultimate fall guys.

And it has to stop.

I’m sick and tired of all the whingeing, whining and complaining about the referees who are under so much pressure.

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Gorden Tallis believes NRL referees are being unfairly treated. Picture: Tony Feder

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And they are under the pump because every player and every coach is trying to bend the rules to breaking point.

People point the finger at Melbourne for pushing things to the limit.

But that’s rubbish. They all do it. We wrestled at the Broncos before the Storm and there’s always been talk that the Balmain Tigers under Warren Ryan had a wrestling coach in the 1980s.

The game is ruled by self-interest.

The Roosters were on the wrong end of a couple of stripping decisions against the Raiders and Trent Robinson complained about the rule.

Tallis said the Brisbane-Penrith sin-bins were acceptable. Picture: Darren England

People have been trying to strip the ball in tackles for more than 100 years but because the chips didn’t fall their way, the Chooks want a change.

Spare me.

People were complaining about players getting sent to the sin bin in the Broncos-Panthers match on Friday night. I didn’t have a problem with it. In fact, more should have been sent to the sideline to cool their heels for 10 minutes, starting with Matt Lodge when he went high on Jimmy Maloney.

The sin bin should actually be used more.

Tallis says wrestling tactics have been in place for years. Picture: Kelly Defina

Teams are deliberately giving away penalties in their own defensive 20 so they can re-set their line. They are backing themselves to hold firm under the pressure of repeat sets.

They lay all over the tackled player and create a painfully slow play-the-ball.

The NRL needs to act on that. If a team gets penalised three times in their own defensive 20, the captain should be sent to the sin bin.

That’ll stop them from wrestling.

That’s why I feel for the whistleblowers. Everyone is testing them every week to see how far they can push it.

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They are putting them under stress from the first minute to the 80th minute.

And if the calls don’t go their way, the teams blame the referees for losing.

It’s become a sport within our sport.

Back when I was playing, maybe one or two teams did that sort of thing.

I remember my teammates would be filthy at me if I ever gave away a penalty. But the whole thing has flipped. You cop it if you don’t slow the game down.

It’s wrong. And it’s annoying me.

A lot of support has been thrown at the men – and women – in the middle. But they need the NRL to let the coaches and players know who really runs the game.