Blog with Buzz: Nitpicking ref had me reaching for remote in disgust
THE NRL risks ruining the finals series by appointing referee Gerard Sutton to major games. For three weeks your columnist has restrained himself from criticising the whistleblowers, but we can no longer ignore the issue.
Phil Rothfield
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THE NRL risks ruining the finals series by appointing referee Gerard Sutton to the major games.
For three weeks your columnist has restrained himself from criticising the whistleblowers, but we can no longer ignore the issue.
On Friday night, Sutton blew 15 penalties in the first half of the Storm-Panthers game in Melbourne.
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I grabbed the remote and switched over to watch Usain Bolt in his soccer trial at Gosford. For the first time this year I couldn’t watch any more rugby league. This was the worst display of referee nitpicking I have seen all season.
The sin-binning of Josh Mansour was a disgrace. Sutton used no common sense.
And while all this was happening, refs bosses Tony Archer and Bernard Sutton were in the United States at a Hawkeye conference and to watch the US Open and a Major League Soccer game.
I didn’t watch the second half in Melbourne but noticed there were only three second-half penalties.
A ridiculous 15 penalties in the first half, only three in the second. Seriously, how could the discipline improve so dramatically in a 10-minute halftime break.
We suspect Sutton got a message at halftime. Like he did before the Origin game in Melbourne.
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After the game, a number of interesting statistics emerged on social media.
The hashtag #NRLStormPanthers was used only 2000 times. The hashtag #Sutton was used 5000 times.
The word refereeing was trending nationally. This was a blatant case of a referee ambushing our game.
The referees were told by Todd Greenberg to drop the nitpicking.
They listened and did for a few weeks. He needs to step in again.