Gorden Tallis defends NRL referees, accuses coaches to telling players to cheat

AFTER the Canberra-Cronulla touch-judge debacle, some are pointing the finger at referees — but former Broncos skipper says NRL coaches are to blame for encouraging their players to break the rules.

Tallis said Milford was a repeat offender against Penrith. (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

FORMER Broncos skipper Gorden Tallis has launched an extraordinary attack on “cheating” NRL coaches, accusing them of pressuring referees by encouraging their players to break the rules.

As the refereeing fraternity comes under fire following the Canberra-Sharks touch-judge debacle last Friday night, Tallis claims the 16 NRL coaches are to blame for the officiating controversy sweeping the code.

NRL chief executive Todd Greenberg has called for more accuracy from the code’s leading whistleblowers, but Tallis believes referees are already feeling the strain from coaches who “rort the system”.

REFFING HELL: Sutton safe, touchie axed

POLL: Who is NRL’s best referee?

Tallis said Milford was a repeat offender against Penrith. (Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

“I will tell you one thing we need to change — it’s the coaches breaking the rules,” Tallis said.

“Every single club now has a referee (consultant) in their ranks and why do they have one there … to rort the system. That’s not cool.

“If I was Todd Greenberg, that’s what he has to look at. The coaches need to wind it back because they are all breaking the rules.

“Coaches get experts in to help them rort the system, to cheat any way possible.

“Anthony Milford had his hand on the ball three or four times (against the Panthers last Friday night) to slow the Penrith play the ball.

“Who taught him that? The refs aren’t teaching them that.”

Gerard Sutton has come under fire for his performance. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Tallis believes the quality of the competition has benefited from the NRL refereeing crackdown earlier this season and says officials should be encouraged to get tougher on players dabbling in gamesmanship.

“Send them off,” Tallis said. “Stop whingeing about the referees and give them more power.

“The style of footy we are seeing now is because of the crackdown. Because it was going to be better for the game, everyone left the referees alone, but now because the coaches aren’t getting their way, they are whingeing.

“I was once part of the system (as a former assistant coach at Souths). We’d say, ‘Boys, sneak up (in the defensive line) … we were always trying to rort the system.

“The players and coaches are at fault, not the referees.

“Coaches should stop coaching players to break the rules.”

Tallis also defended the performance of the $2 million NRL bunker.

“They can’t get rid of the bunker, it’s working,” he said.

“If you turn on Friday night footy and see the tries players score in the corner and we say, ‘He didn’t get the ball down’, then the replays show the player did get the ball down.

“The bunker gets more decisions right than wrong. It has been fantastic for the game.

“Canberra can blame the refs, but they have lost a lot of games themselves. We need to toughen up a bit. As a game we have to grow up.”

LIVE stream every game of every round of the 2018 NRL Telstra Premiership on FOX SPORTS. Get your free two-week Foxtel Now trial and start watching in minutes. SIGN UP NOW >