NRL finals 2024: Referee Adam Gee dumped from week one

While he was widely applauded after his performance in last year’s grand final between Penrith and Brisbane, leading NRL referee Adam Gee has been dumped for week one of the finals.

Grand final referee Adam Gee has been dumped from week one of the finals.

The popular whistle blower has missed out behind Ashley Klein, Gerard Sutton, Todd Smith and Grant Atkins.

Klein will control Friday night’s qualifying final between premiers Penrith and the Sydney Roosters at BlueBet Stadium before Sutton takes charge of the Storm and Cronulla qualifying final in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon.

Smith will referee the elimination final between North Queensland and Newcastle in Townsville while Atkins has the whistle for Sunday’s elimination final between Canterbury and Manly at Accor Stadium.

Referee Adam Gee has been dumped from week one of the finals series. Picture: Getty Images

Gee has been named as standby referee for the Panthers-Roosters game which is a long way from where he was after last year’s decider between Penrith and Brisbane when he became an NRL poster boy and was widely applauded for his performance when he awarded just five penalties and one set restart.

“You want to be fair and balanced for both teams, adjudicate on what you’ve seen, but ultimately let the players decide the game and that’s what happened on Sunday, definitely. I’ve been a bit shocked by a lot of the media attention about the refereeing. I am happy if no one mentions the referee,” Gee told this masthead days after the grand final.