ARLC chairman John Grant vows to fix the standard of refereeing in the NRL

ARLC chairman John Grant has conceded NRL referees need to clean up their act.

ARLC chairman John Grant has conceded NRL referees need to clean up their act - and the game has an obligation to help coaches, players and fans understand the rules.

After another dramatic round marred by controversy and confusion, referees boss Bill Harrigan was last night forced to admit the Wests Tigers were robbed of a crucial decision that cost them victory against Canterbury.

Harrigan confirmed video referee Sean Hampstead would be dumped for awarding a try to Bulldog Jonathan Wright that should have been a penalty against Canterbury for obstruction.

Harrigan said he would also contact all clubs this week to help clear up any confusion about the obstruction rule.

He posted a video explanation on the NRL's website last night to try and help fans understand. And last night the commission boss weighed into the debate when he declared: "There is absolutely a gap in the level of understanding and there is absolutely no doubt in our mind that the management team and the commission need to do something so players understand, coaches understand and fans understand the rules."

Asked if he shared a concern among fans, players and coaches that a refereeing blunder could cost a team in the race for this year's NRL title, Grant said: "We have had an unfortunate situation where we have had crucial errors being made.

"Similarly, by the way we saw in games on the weekend, players drop two balls with the line open.

"You know this sort of stuff happens in the heat of battle. We'd all like it to be perfect but it's not a perfect world."

Asked if he was happy with the job referees bosses Harrigan and Stuart Raper were doing, Grant said: "It's not a point if we are happy or not.

"What we do is expect our management team to make the decisions that are necessary to keep the game going on the field correctly.

"What we do at the end of the year and what we have in process is review what has gone on.

"We will sit down at the end of the year and make a valued judgment on that."

The Daily Telegraph ran an online poll yesterday asking fans how they would rate the performance of the NRL referees this season.

Of more than 7000 online votes, 86 per cent of fans either voted poor or terrible.

Grant said: "There is no doubt that we don't want to see, and I should say also that our referees don't want to see, errors that are made on the field by referees influence the outcomes of games.

"We both absolutely don't want that to be the case.

"What we are seeing are decisions being made that in hindsight are not the right decisions.

"That is not where we want to be. What we expect from our management team under these circumstances is to do what they would normally do, which is review performance and fix the problems if there are problems."