Impetus builds for captain's challenge
Stuart Honeysett
The Australian
October 02, 2013 12:00AM
THE NRL is moving closer to adopting a captain's challenge system next season to alleviate pressure on its own match officials and turn the heat back on to players, coaches and clubs.
The system was discussed yesterday after NRL referees boss Daniel Anderson announced leading referees Shayne Hayne and Ben Cummins had been appointed to control Sunday's grand final between the Sydney Roosters and Manly at ANZ Stadium.
The system has been trialled in the Holden Cup this year with great success and the NRL is now gathering feedback from all 16 NRL clubs before a recommendation is put to the NRL Competition Committee.
"It has been modified as the season has gone on and has been used in the playoff series very successfully," Anderson said.
"Certainly we have enough evidence and samples now to make an informed decision, which is what the program was always set up to be."
Under the system, each captain would be allowed one unsuccessful challenge per half plus an extra one for a golden-point game.
The system is already used in other sports, including cricket, and the NRL has noted that Australian captain Michael Clarke was forced to admit during the recent Ashes series that the team had been guilty of wasting its challenges.
The push for a captain's challenge gathered momentum at the start of the finals when Cronulla was awarded a seven-tackle try in an elimination final against North Queensland. The decision contributed to the Cowboys losing the game 20-18.
The only concern over the scheme is that it would add more stoppage time to a game that already has enough through video referee decisions.
The NRL hopes that, if implemented, it can cap the stoppage time for a captain's challenge at 90 seconds.
NRL general manager football operations Nathan McGuirk said yesterday the system had succeeded in the Holden Cup finals. "We could have had teams potentially eliminated off the back of a referee's error which on review was changed and we got the right decision. That's the clear positive aspect of the captain's challenge."
Anderson said his officials had steadily improved since the seven-tackle try howler and he was confident there would be no more hiccups in Sunday night's decider.
Hayne said neither he nor Cummins would be second guessing their decisions in the decider. They will be joined by video referees Luke Patten and Ashley Klein, and touch judges Steve Carrall and Russell Turner.
"If we started to think about those sort of things you're not going to go out there and do your job the way you need to," Hayne said.
