How Graham Annesley will overhaul the NRL’s refereeing disasters

No hint of nepotism, less time spent making decisions and fronting up - that’s just some of what Graham Annesley will bring to the table as the NRL’s head of football.

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Graham Annesley will single-handedly eradicate any hint of nepotism within the NRL referee ranks by implementing a policy that will give him final say on which whistleblowers are used every week next season.

The NRL’s new head of football has revealed he has decided to reintroduce the same match official sign-off policy, which was used with great effect by former ARL chief executive John Quayle, in the early 1990s.

“In terms of the referees appointments each week, they’ll have to come to me for approval before they are released,’’ Annesley said.

“Appointments used to go to John (Quayle) for approval before they were released and that’s just to make sure that the game has oversight over the best interests of the game.’’

Annesly has taken over as the NRL’s head of football. Picture by Toby Zerna.

NRL referees coach Bernard Sutton, whose brothers Gerard and Chris are NRL referees, was forced to defend claims of nepotism after several contentious appointments related to his brothers last season.

When the Telegraph suggested to Annesley it appeared his policy was in response to those same accusations related to nepotism, he said: “You’re not the first to suggest that, but my view on that would be the same regardless of what his name is.

“Whether there are people who are related to each other within the refereeing ranks or not, I just think that the game has to oversight over that.

“If there were a particular set of circumstances that we had to intervene (going forward), then we would.

“Bernard is still going to be the referees coach and he will be responsible for how those instructions from the game are carried out.’’

NRL boss Todd Greenberg poached Annesley to replace Brian Canavan in the head of football role.

Annesley has spent the past few seasons in club administration. Picture by Jerad Williams.

His more than 30-years of rugby league experience both as a former Test-level referee and as a league administrator for the NRL between 1998 and 2011 and most recently as the Gold Coast Titans CEO, is a major coup for a code desperate to re-engage with fans - and so too, is he a masterful right-hand foil for Greenberg.

Annesley has contacts within the game that date back beyond the Super League war, has the ear of key government officials from his time as Sports Minister for NSW in 2011 and the necessary rugby league street-smarts which are vital to understanding the plethora of egos, power-players and critically, the fans.

Speaking to the Telegraph about a range of issues he plans to target in 2019, the two points which caused most angst, debate and frustration from fans, officials, sponsors and the media were the video bunker and the performances of referees.

THE BUNKER

Underline or circle with a fluorescent highlighter, screenshot or just remember this one simple sentence when a video referral decision goes against your team next season.

The NRL bunker is here to stay.

“Yes, absolutely (it is here to stay),’’ Annesley, who was first asked to investigate video technology for the NRL in 1996, said.

However, in good news - although not necessarily for major sponsor of the video referee, KFC, - Annesley wants the time taken to determine, try or no-try, slashed.

“I know people complain about it (bunker) from time to time,’’ Annesley said.

“We need to do whatever we can to try and minimise the time that it takes to make decisions and that comes down to the people operating it.

The Bunker isn’t going anywhere.

“And we need to make sure we only go to the bunker when we have too.

“But I can almost guarantee you that if we eliminated the bunker tomorrow, which we’re not going to, that by round three next year, people would be saying bring it back.

“I’ve only been on board for two weeks, but we’ve had a bunker review ongoing now for a couple of months now.

“There’s not a lot wrong with the technology. The technology is world-class. Other sports from here and overseas have come out to look at it and you couldn’t want for any more resources at your finger tips to try and help make decisions.

“But like all technology, it’s only as good as the people operating it.

“There’ll be errors from time to time, there’ll be controversial decisions, but controversy doesn’t always mean wrong.

“There are cases where it’s clearly wrong and what my responsibility is both with on-field officials and bunker officials is to make sure we’ve got the best possible people, as well-trained as possible, making the right decisions.’’

BACK TO ONE REF

Annesley refereed 244 first grade games as well as Test matches and the first State of Origin match at the MCG in 1994.

He retired as a match official before the introduction of two referees in 2009.

The refereeing chaos in recent years has led to repeated calls, most notably from former whistleblower Bill Harrigan, immortal Bob Fulton and Telegraph colleague Phil Rothfield, to revert back to one referee.

Annesley doesn’t agree.

“I think it’s very hard to go back (to one referee),’’ he said.

“In fact the Queensland Rugby Legaue and the NSWRL are about to introduce two referees.

“The Super League is about to transition towards two referees.

The NRL will not return to one referee. Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images.

“Other sports have introduced additional officials and even though we use one in international fixtures, you don’t have eight international games a week across 25 weeks of competition putting it under the stress and strain that the Telstra Premiership puts it under every week.’’

Annesley added the refereeing crackdown which cruelled the entire first-half of last season wouldn’t happen again.

“I didn’t agree with the approach that was taken over the first half of the competition,’’ he said.

“What I was critical of is that they appeared to be approaching each game in a similar manner and there was a similar pattern emerging in almost every game of, a string of penalties, a warning and then a sin-binning.

“And that can’t be coincidence.

“I don’t think you can have a one-size fits all approach to officiating in games. There has to be a degree of flexibility around reacting to the type of game it is.’’

FRONTING-UP

Annesley had a brief stint in politics as the Liberal MP for Miranda in 2011.

Ironic, given he too has heard the overtures, that the NRL is run by a bunch of politicians.

Yet he says, under his watch, the game is about to reveal itself - warts and all - and like never before.

“I don’t come into this job thinking I’m going to be any less criticised that anyone else that might do the job,’’ Annesley said.

“But I made it clear when I talked to Todd that I thought we needed to be more transparent and we needed to get on the front foot more.

“So one of the things I talked to Todd about, which he was very happy to endorse, is that we’re going to conduct a Monday afternoon media briefing where we’ll discuss anything that has happened on the field over the weekend.

“We’ll talk about decisions, in some cases we’ll put our hand up and say we were wrong, in other cases we might defend things that have happened over the course of the weekend.

“If people disagree, well they’re entitled to tear that pieces. But I’ll always be as upfront and honest as I can.’’

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