Sin bin confusion: Annesley weighs in on NRL drama

NRL match officials have come under fire after another round of controversy erupted over the glaring double standards surrounding the use of the sin bin.

Graham Annesley has defended his under-fire match officials. Picture: AAP

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NRL head of football Graham Annesley has defended his under-fire match officials after another round of controversy erupted over the glaring double standards surrounding the use of the sin bin.

After South Sydney superstar Sam Burgess escaped punishment for his sickening high shot that rattled Matt Moylan the previous week, many fans were dumbfounded to see young Wests Tigers forward Luke Garner and Canterbury’s unheralded Chris Smith dismissed for relatively minor incidents on Saturday night.

There is no way Garner’s shot on Lachlan Lewis or Smith’s on Ryan Matterson were in the same ball park as the Burgess hit that left Moylan heavily concussed and unable to play on the following weekend.

Garner and Smith were also hit with grade one dangerous contact charges but will escape suspension with early guilty pleas.

And there was debate about whether Kalyn Ponga’s try-saving tackle on Clint Gutherson was a shoulder charge. It was ruled legal on the field and not acted on by the match review committee.

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Wests Tigers back-rower Luke Garner is sent to the sin bin. Credit: Fox Sports

The sin bin confusion comes after a recent crackdown on late cheap shots on playmakers that gained widespread support after some terrible incidents in recent years.

But the fear in the countdown to the finals is that the inconsistency we are seeing could destroy a club’s season if the wrong call is made.

The Tigers scored immediately after Smith was sin-binned and had Paul Momirovski landed the conversion, it would have levelled the scores with seconds remaining in the match.

Given the Bulldogs are out of finals contention, it didn’t spark a huge uproar, but what if it was a team playing for a top-eight place?

Annesley denied what happened at ANZ Stadium in respect to the Garner and Smith tackles was a knee-jerk reaction to the outrage that followed the Burgess blow-up.

“Clubs were warned about contact on players not in possession of the ball several weeks ago,” Annesley said.

Graham Annesley has defended his under-fire match officials. Picture: AAP

“People can argue about the individual incidents and they can talk about inconsistency. But that doesn’t necessarily make the two incidents (on Saturday night) wrong.”

The referees also received support from legends Darren Lockyer and Brad Fittler on Channel 9. They agreed with the tougher stance to get rid of cheap shots on playmakers but said the decision to sin bin Smith was pushing the limit.

“You think about the last couple of years, this is what we have been whingeing about,” Fittler said.

“So there has been a reaction. If Luke Garner doesn’t get sin-binned I don’t think (Smith) gets sin-binned.”

Locker, who is also on the NRL’s competition committee, added: “It is difficult for the referees. I think there is a little bit of over-reaction in some of them, like the Smith one. (But) I want to see the cheap shot in the back out of the game.”

Originally published as Sin bin confusion: Annesley weighs in on NRL drama