NRL 2023: Ashley Klein axed as referees confirmed for preliminary finals

The NRL’s No. 1 referee Ashley Klein has been dumped for this weekend’s preliminary finals following two crucial blunders in last week’s semi final.

Peter V'landys and Andrew Abdo made the tough call to relegate Ashley Klein. Picture: Mark Evans/Getty Images

Veteran referee Gerard Sutton has replaced Ashley Klein, dumped after two blunders last weekend.

Sutton, who was a controversial omission from week two finals appointments, will referee the Broncos-Warriors preliminary final in Brisbane on Saturday night with Adam Gee to control the Panthers-Storm grand final qualifier at Accor Stadium 24 hours earlier.

Grant Atkins has been appointed video referee for the Panthers-Storm game with Klein in the bunker for the Suncorp Stadium match.

This masthead revealed on Monday that Klein was facing the sack after two key errors in Melbourne’s late win over the Sydney Roosters last weekend.

There was a suggestion Atkins may be promoted but the NRL stuck with experience and named Sutton.

Klein has refereed 23 finals games and 14 State of Origin games.

(L-R) Harry Grant of the Storm talks to Ashley Klein. Picture: NRL Images

Sutton has now re-emerged as a 2023 grand final candidate.

Klein is paying the penalty for missing a blatant knock-on from Melbourne’s Harry Grant that cost the Roosters dearly when the Storm scored at the other end of the field.

He also erred in the final minutes of the match when, with the Roosters leading 13-12, Grant was hit with a high shot by Sam Walker which wasn’t penalised.

The Storm went on to score and win the match.

The NRL holds Klein in such high regard as a big-match referee in both Origins and grand finals.

But at the same time, they need to hold him accountable for mistakes.

The decision to relegate Klein was handled at the highest level of the NRL, involving Abdo and head of football Graham Annesley.

“The selection of match officials for finals is always a very difficult task we take very seriously,”

Annesley said.

“We are fortunate to have four very capable and experienced referees appointed so far in the final series.

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“All of them have the capability to perform at this level, but as we progress through each week the number of opportunities drop from four, to two, and ultimately just one who will have the honour of controlling the Grand Final.

“To make these decisions, we carefully consider an extensive analysis of statistical data, past performances, and big game experience.

“While it is disappointing for those who miss out, hopefully, it only increases their determination to continuously improve and succeed.”

Annesley, at his weekly briefing on Monday afternoon, did not confirm Klein’s demotion, but did say they: “No doubt we will see some errors (going forward) but we have to make sure we appoint the people who we think are in form and give us the best chance of minimising those errors.

“Our hope is that those errors are insignificant and they don’t have any consequential outcome.

Ashley Klein copped plenty of heated abuse on social media.

Klein, a 377-game veteran, made the rare decision to apologise to Roosters captain James Tedesco for not identifying the Grant knock-on and was targeted with vile abuse and homophobic slurs in the aftermath of the match.

“He wouldn’t be human if he didn’t have something in the back of his mind about an error he knew he had made,” Annesley said.

“Referees are trained over a long period of time to just put that behind them and keep refereeing the game because what they have to be careful of is if they start thinking about things that have happened previously then they’re not concentrating on what’s happening in front of them.

“He’s one of our most experienced referees.

“He took us right through Origin, he’s refereed grand finals, he’s refereed hundreds of NRL games and he’s refereed dozens of finals so he’s not an inexperienced referee.”