NRL to launch urgent Bunker review as top official learns fate

NRL powerbrokers have promised major reviews of the NRL’s football department following the Bunker’s weekend from hell.

The three major incidents that caused chaos in Round 25.

NRL powerbrokers Peter V’landys and Andrew Abdo have promised major reviews of the NRL’s football department following the Bunker’s weekend from hell.

Over Round 25 the Bunker came under intense criticism for inconsistencies in its calls, which left fans, players, coaches and pundits confused and questioning the state of refereeing a fortnight out from the finals.

In particular, there was a lack of consistency around what is a sin bin offence for contact with the head, after two Sea Eagles players were sin binned for high contact on Thursday night, 24 hours before Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton escaped sanction for an incident with Warriors centre Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.

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Crichton was later hit with a grade two careless high tackle charge by the NRL, who are reportedly set to stand down Liam Kennedy, Friday night’s Bunker official.

Speaking on Fox League’s coverage on Friday night, NRL great James Graham described the current state of NRL officiating as a “complete guessing game”, with his former teammate Michael Ennis slamming the system’s inconsistency.

“There’s a real frustration in our game between players, coaches, and it’s rife with our fans at the moment with the inconsistency,” Ennis said.

The three major incidents that caused chaos in Round 25.

Speaking on Triple M’s Sunday Scrum, veteran journalist Phil Rothfield revealed both V’Landys and Abdo assured him “there is going to be a major, major review of the football department”.

“The Bunker, the refereeing. Everything. They’ll leave nothing on the side and try to come up with at least some form of formula where the fans of our great game can at least switch on the TV, go to the games and get some level of consistency,” he explained.

Speaking on the Big Sports Breakfast on Monday morning, Rothfield provided further clarification on his comments on Sunday.

“It’s their number one priority in the off season, to get this sorted out once and for all,” Rothfield said.

It comes as Warriors CEO Cameron George called on the NRL to reduce the number of officials who sit in the Bunker each weekend following Friday night’s controversial Crichton saga that soured an otherwise emotional final home game for Shaun Johnson.

According to a report from the Sydney Morning Herald, eight different officials were used in the Bunker over Round 25, with George telling the publication he feels that number should be halved.

“To get consistency, you need a smaller pool of people applying the interpretations. When you broaden the pool of people interpreting the rules, you’re going to get inconsistency in my view. You just are,” George told the SMH.

George’s comments come after there were multiple incidents over contact with the head that received varying degrees of punishment over Round 25.

Adding to the Warriors’ CEO’s comments, Rothfield told Monday morning’s Big Sports Breakfast he believes the NRL will reduce the number of Bunker officials.

“Hopefully that’ll bring the consistency into it. Because what we saw, particularly in Auckland on Friday night, was so unacceptable,” Rothfield said.

Twenty four hours after the Crichton debacle, there was an incident involving Rabbitohs captain Cameron Murray during his side’s loss to the Knights.

Murray was penalised and placed on report for a late high shot on Tyson Frizell that saw the Newcastle edge leave the field for a HIA, and eventually ruled out of the game, but was not initially sent to the sin bin for the incident.

However, the Bunker extraordinarily backflipped on their original decision, instructing referee Chris Butler to give Murray his marching orders after his contact was deemed to have “moderate force with no mitigation”.

“Second time around, the Bunker’s had a rethink. Maybe somebody in the Bunker said ‘were you not watching what happened last night’,” Fox League’s Warren Smith said at the time.

“It had to be a sin bin. Why was that not obvious to the Bunker first up?”

Fox League’s Corey Parker added; “I’m not sure how to comment on what we’re seeing over the last couple of games.”

Less than 24 hours later, Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was sent to the sin bin 11 minutes into his side’s win over the Titans for a high shot on hooker Sam Verrills.

Speaking in his post-game press conference, Titans coach Des Hasler summed up the current sentiment towards NRL officials from all corners of the game, particularly around the inconsistency around how high tackles are policed.

“There’s not a lot of confidence at the moment with players and their interpretation around what’s a high shot and what isn’t,” Hasler said.

Originally published as NRL to launch urgent Bunker review as top official learns fate