Graham Annesley: Why NRL bunker won’t rule on forward passes

Despite admitting two controversial “no try” calls were wrong last weekend Graham Annesley has explained why allowing the Bunker to rule on forward passes would be fraught with danger.

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NRL head of football Graham Annesley is a welcome arrival given what we've had to put up with in recent years when trying to make sense of controversial refereeing decisions.

But despite admitting two controversial “no try” calls were wrong last weekend — which cost Parramatta and
St George Illawarra legitimate tries — Annesley explained why allowing the Bunker to rule on forward passes would be fraught with danger.

Brad Arthur was far from happy that Parramatta were denied a try after a forward pass decision went against them when the scores were 0-0 against Canberra, while St George Illawarra also questioned how a pass from Matt Dufty to Mikaele Ravalawa was called forward in the win over the Bulldogs.

To his credit, Annesley said in his opinion both calls were wrong.

But asked why the Bunker should not be used, Annesley's explanation once again made common sense.

"We did (the video ref) for a full season, I think it was about 2001," Annesley said.

NRL head of football Graham Annesley. Picture: Toby Zerna

"And it was an unmitigated disaster.

"The reason it was a disaster, and everyone at the end of the season unanimously said 'let's get rid of it', was because we started ruling on things that you could not tell whether they were or they weren't forward.

“And video refs were making decisions saying 'yes it was' or 'no it wasn't' and then there would be a huge controversy."

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Despite advancements in technology, Annesley remains convinced that reintroducing the rule would result in just as many bad calls as good.

“That aspect of the game hasn't changed,” he said.

“The other thing that makes it complicated is the rule itself, which says that the ball can be passed backwards out of the hands and it can go forward.

“And that does happen, It is natural physics."

At least with Annesley, as opposed to some of the recent officials who were in his position, you can get a straight answer, even if you don't agree.