Monday Buzz: More black eyes during NRL amateur hour
THE NRL is a multibillion-dollar professional sporting organisation that can’t even get its timekeeping right, writes PHIL ROTHFIELD.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A SEND-off, 14 sin-bins, punches, timekeeper blunders and another game-deciding refereeing mistake.
Good morning. This is your crisis merchant reporting on another bungling round of NRL madness.
A multibillion-dollar professional sporting organisation that can’t even get its timekeeping right.
Your columnist has been saying for two years that the NRL’s football department needs a bomb put under it, that head of football Brian Canavan is the loveliest bloke but out of his depth.
The timekeeping fiasco in Melbourne, when two sin-binned Manly Sea Eagles players were allowed back on to the field after eight minutes instead of 10, is surely proof of that.
The only saving grace was that it wasn’t a close finish.
MORE MONDAY BUZZ: Weekend highlights, lowlights
MORE: Buzz’s NSW Blues team for State of Origin I
Every weekend we see mistakes that mum and dad volunteers wouldn’t make on the score tables at park footy.
Yet in typical NRL fashion, the blame for the timekeeper fiasco has been shifted to the clubs.
It was their fault, their responsibility, not the NRL’s.
Never mind the fact that Storm general manager Frank Ponissi warned NRL ground manager Matt Hicks that he had stuffed up.
Why isn’t there a countdown sin bin clock on the scoreboards anyway?
NRL CEO Todd Greenberg’s biggest weakness is his failure to recognise there is actually a weakness.
He fines or criticises those who speak out publicly rather than trying to fix the actual problem.
Anyone who criticises the game or his leadership is a crisis merchant.
We’re told to either “grow-up” or “talk the game up”.
The whole brawl episode in Melbourne was handled poorly.
Curtis Scott was sent off, which was the one correct decision.
Api Koroisau was sin-binned for a king hit as bad as Scott’s. He should have been sent off, too.
Dylan Walker was sin-binned for protecting himself.
Two referees, two touch judges, three in the bunker and they get one out of three right.
The fact the competition’s lowest-ranked referee, Henry Perenara, was even in charge of a game that is traditionally so controversial and so spiteful was a joke.
On Friday night at Suncorp Stadium, the Broncos beat the Roosters via a penalty that shouldn’t have been awarded.
Roosters prop Dylan Napa charged out of the line and smashed Korbin Sims.
A high-speed tackle that accidentally went wrong.
He was sin-binned and the Broncos scored the matchwinning try.
Next morning the NRL’s match review committee watched dozens of replays and decided Napa had, in fact, no case to answer.
It should have been a scrum feed to the Roosters, five tackles, then a field goal opportunity for Cooper Cronk to get the two points.
Making the situation worse was the fact the referee was Gerard Sutton, brother of refs’ boss Bernard Sutton.
The outrage became greater because the Broncos had now won 15 consecutive games under Sutton on their home ground.
Last week I phoned a senior NRL executive and said it was madness to send Sutton to Suncorp for this game.
There needed to be a cooling-off period and everyone was talking about putting him under unnecessary pressure, considering the statistics.
I said: “What if the Broncos win from a controversial decision?”
The reply I received was that they won’t be influenced by outsiders. Up yours.
There have been monumental blunders all year yet no accountability.
Ashley Klein incorrectly awarded a matchwinning penalty to the Broncos in golden point against the Wests Tigers at Campbelltown. The NRL admitted he got it wrong.
The NRL then promoted him to the biggest game of the year, the Anzac Day Roosters versus St George Illawarra game. Stuff the Wests Tigers.
Referee Chris Butler incorrectly disallowed a magnificent Josh Addo-Carr try at Kogarah two weeks ago. The decision turned the game. Again, no accountability. He stayed in first grade. Stuff the Storm.
The fact Greenberg is ignoring the public outcry and genuine criticism is the problem.
The fans have had enough. Social media polls over the weekend showed us that.
He needs to fix the football department immediately.
We’re sick of dummy halves purposely throwing the ball at defenders to milk penalties. We’re sick of the huge penalty counts. We’ve had more shots at penalty goals in the first 11 rounds than the entire 2017 season.
No more spin. No more fake crowd figures or TV ratings. Just fix the problems.
We want to write about great moments like the James Roberts’ try, not this other rubbish. We want our game back.
ROUND 11 SIN-BINNINGS
Panthers v Tigers
Trent Merrin 23’
Alex Twal 59’
Eels v Warriors
Isaiah Papali’i 34’
Broncos v Roosters
Dylan Napa 75’
Tevita Pangai Junior 80’
Titans v Knights
Moeaki Fotuiaka 43’
Jarrod Wallace 52’
Cowboys v Rabbitohs
Cody Walker 7’ ▼
Storm v Sea Eagles
Jake Trbojevic 38’
Curtis Scott 52’ (send-off)
Dylan Walker 52’
Apisai Koroisau 52’
Joshua Addo-Carr 76’
Dragons v Raiders
Jordan Rapana 61’
Sharks v Bulldogs
Josh Dugan 80’