I don't see why their integrity can't be questioned. I question their integrity.
I refereed a game in the mid 2000s in country NSW, and an ex-Eels player was captain-coach of the away team. It was 'old boys day' and there was a BIG crowd in for the home team.
This guy runs out onto the field for the coin toss, didn't shake hands with either myself or the other captain, and first words out of his mouth were "make sure you make the decisions today, don't let the crowd make them for you" as he pointed his finger at me. Keep in mind, I've never met this dude in my life, and he has no idea what type of referee I was.
As you can probably imagine, every decision that went against his team was a "home ground decision", and every decision for his team was "about time".
I was 21 years old, with a couple of drunks running the sidelines with a flag - and he really backed me into a corner. If I decided to stick it to him for questioning my integrity, I'm proving him right. If I rolled over, and gave his team all the 50/50s, I'm no better. Even if he deserves to be sinbinned for mouthing off, his powerplay attempt has given him the moral highground in his eyes, and he learns no lesson.
For the record, his team won with a last minute field goal. He stayed on the field the entire game, despite my better judgement. And he pulled another powerplay move on me at full-time, offering a handshake, not letting go, and yelling at me for 30-40 seconds. I subsequently reported him after the match, had video evidence provided by the home team. He lost his shit at the judiciary, and copped a 6 week stint on the sideline.
That's a long story for a short point to make. Which is, questioning someone's integrity is a pre-action judgement. Once decisions start to be made an evidence base starts to build, by which judgements can and should be made. And it probably impacts junior and country refs more than the professionals.
I've got no doubt that there have been some NRL referees who have been approached and offered money for certain things (hell I saw it happen in the country) - and as a former referee I know that there are many levels of bias that impact decisions.
I can also understand referees missing certain things - but I cannot cope with the Bunker making shithouse decisions despite the technology and time afforded to them. Case in point, the Leota tackle on Harris - has been a penalty and sinbin everyday for the past 3-4 years.
Annesley's press conferences are a good idea in theory, but in reality he generally uses them as a soap box to defend the referees and hardly ever accepts any kind of accountability.
Even as someone who knows the Rule Book back to front, I still can't understand the level of mental gymnastics required to get to the conclusions he does. Absolute pelican of the highest order.
