NRL 2021: Henry Perenara pays price after Latrell Mitchell bunker blunder

Bunker official Henry Perenara has been sidelined for the final round of the regular season as the fallout from Latrell Mitchell’s controversial hit on Joey Manu continues.

Henry Perenara is expected to be axed immediately for his bunker blunder. Picture: Alix Sweeney

Bunker official Henry Perenara has been dumped into refereeing exile.

Perenara was not named to officiate in the final round of the regular season when the NRL released its appointments on Tuesday night after he was immediately dropped last weekend for his handling of Latrell Mitchell’s ugly shot on Roosters centre Joseph Manu.

Roosters coach Trent Robinson took aim at both Perenara and referee Ashley Klein for not taking more decisive action against Mitchell in last Friday’s fiery encounter between his side and arch rivals South Sydney.

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Henry Perenara won’t officiate in any games in the final round of the season. Picture: Alix Sweeney

“Henry Perenara’s sitting in the Bunker, didn’t stop play, didn’t do anything about it then (referee) Ashley (Klein) asked them to play on and then the players went at it again, and then he just missed it completely,“ Robinson said.

“How do you send that for 10 in the bin? The guy will finish the year based on a late shot to the head and it’s 10 minutes in the bin, you cannot make decisions if that’s your decision.”

“Get out of there, if you can’t do it get out of there, or just get rid of it all completely, get rid of it completely,” he said.

“If you cannot do the job, get out of there, and it’s been shown that the NRL Bunker cannot do their job this year.

“It’s been a farce, it’s been an absolute farce.”

Those comments and the entire on field incident has cost the Bondi club $40,000 with the NRL issuing a breach notice for the abuse of match officials, allegedly breaching NRL rules regarding public commentary on match officials and Robinson’s outburst.

Latrell Mitchell was sent to the sin bin after this shoulder hit left former teammate Joey Manu sporting a damaged cheekbone. Picture: Fox Sports

Veteran referee Matt Cecchin was also caught up in the drama and is likely to officiate his final game this weekend when he referees the Rabbitohs v Dragons match on Saturday. After 370 games in charge Cecchin has called it quits for the second time in his career.

The 48-year-old walked away from the NRL back in 2017 following the aftermath of a controversial World Cup semi-final between England and Tonga, which included death threats, before returning in 2019. Cecchin was the standby referee on Friday night and had comments directed his way in the fiery match.