Monday Buzz: Which referees have the highest and lowest percentage of officiating wins for every club
While it was revealed the Bulldogs were compiling a dossier on referee Gerard Sutton, it turns there’s another referee who they’ve never won a game under. See which referees every NRL club wants and doesn’t want.
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It’s time to blow the whistle on NRL clubs playing mind games with the referees.
It happens this time every year as we enter the business end of the NRL season as clubs and coaches go looking for any little advantage they can get.
Most often it will involve them trying to put pressure on the referees.
Last week colleague Dean Bulldog Ritchie reported that Canterbury officials had been compiling a dossier on senior referee Gerard Sutton.
It was revealed that the Bulldogs had won just four from 21 games since Good Friday, 2015, and two from their past 16 matches under Sutton.
So to save all the other clubs from going to the same trouble of compiling their own dossiers, we’ve done the homework for them.
Six-again, play on.
We’ve taken the stats from the last four years, leading up to round 21 season, for all 17 clubs.
As it turns out Sutton is not necessarily Canterbury’s ‘bogey’ referee.
In fact they have never won a game under Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski, who has controlled five of their games in the last four years.
At the other end of the scale there are clubs that have unbeaten records under certain referees.
The Penrith Panthers have never lost under Chris Butler in seven games.
The Rabbitohs also have perfect records under Chris Sutton and Chris Butler.
Obviously the struggling clubs, like the Bulldogs before this year, have the worst percentages because they lose more often.
The Wests Tigers have only a 10 per cent record (one win in 10 games) under Peter Gough.
The Dragons are just 14.3 per cent under Ashley Klein (one win from seven games).
At the end of the day the worst clubs have the worst percentages because they have the worst discipline.
And the best clubs have the best percentages because they have the best discipline.
It’s as simple as that.
And as for the Bulldogs, it’s not as if they need to be leaking dossiers.
Their performance against the Broncos on Saturday afternoon was magnificent.
You look back at their record from around 12 months ago.
In round 18 they were thrashed and bashed 66-0 by Newcastle.
Most thought they were facing a long, slow and painful rebuild over a number of years.
Dare I say it – a five-year-plan.
Somehow Cameron Ciraldo has fast tracked it all.
The victory over the Broncos was as impressive as any performance I’ve seen from any team this year.
DOGS OF AWE as the headline screamed on the front page of the Sunday Tele sports section.
No Stephen Crichton, no Josh Addo-Carr, no Max King and no Jaeman Salmon. No bloody worries.
This football side is headed for the top four and anything can happen from there.
And they don’t need any help from the refs.
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Originally published as Monday Buzz: Which referees have the highest and lowest percentage of officiating wins for every club
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