Its a tricky one. I think the one with Jack Bird, Sutton mightve thought it was 100% a try but missed the knock on, so last year he wouldve awarded it but we wouldve found it to be howler.
I like the idea of eliminating the howlers provided it doesnt take the Bunker forever to look at it. So in some cases over the weekend we still had the issue with the Bunker.
Its a good point about the game clock, it was raised last night that about a minute was lost. Should the decision be overturned, do you think the clock should go back a minute or should time be stopped from a try is awarded?
Good post.
A few things here...
Firstly I sincerely thought that ref had a pretty good game. Most of the contentious calls were correct IMO. Can't remember his name but seems like a new bloke who handled it very well. Maybe a forward pass missed in the Sharks try out wide late in the game, but that's it.
The Bunker review - I hate it after try award. I don't blame the ref, he makes a call and would be very hard to pick up the ball hitting Birds arm in the fast collision that was. And even if he could - whether it was forward, sideways, backwards etc. And what initially looked like it could have been a high tackle definitely proved it wasn't in replay. Good game from the whistleblower.
The Bunker review / match clock - I thought I heard the commentators say that they reset the match clock for time lost. I didn't see the clock reset myself but assume that was the case.
Speed of decision. This one above, and the Broncos one were absolutely critical in the scheme of the match. I agree that bunkers' have laboured too long in the past, and primarily over blatantly obvious situations. But I'm sure I'm not alone here when it wasn't conclusive after the first replay in the Broncos or Dragons Game.. I still reckon Broncos could have been a try - and even though the ball hit Bird's arm - did it actually go forward? Or sideways... - They only decided that on a replay from behind the play at ground level... They deserved closer scrutiny..
Howlers. That's what DRS in Cricket has always been suggested it was designed to get rid of. But it can't be limited to that and has never been. It would appear the same with the NRL. I wouldn't call any of those Bunker calls as a howler in a match - a blatantly overlooked or incorrect call of the ref. And it's being used for everything now.
I was all for the Bunker in the last few seasons - and while they cop flack - the overwhelming majority of decisions they make are correct. But the use of the Bunker, especially now after tries are "awarded" could be the biggest killjoy the NRL has ever seen.
