Refereeing has been pretty dire all year, so having it come out in the big games like the Grand Final and State of Origin is no real surprise.
I think the Broncos were probably a little lucky last night.
The angle I saw the Berrigan obstruction run/head-high penalty from made it appear as though he'd absolutely been axed by Slater, but watching the replay showed he was falling into it and Slater's probably more than entitled to feel a tad unhappy about the result. I think a lot of "shepards" ths season have been the result of successful decoy runs, and I'm personally not sold on the idea of that particular attacking run being illegal. Your mileage may vary.
King I think copped a bad call. I personally couldn't see anything wrong with it, but that's just me. There may well be some sort of obscure rule relating to that specific occasion occurring, and it might even have been correctly applied. I'm not sure what was going on, there.
I also think Slater did strip the ball. To me it looked as though Berrigan was right about to loose the ball, but Slater then took possession of it. Sure, the Storm might have gathered possession of it aafter it had been lost- but they might have knocked it on, been trapped in-goal, or it could have been sent backwards, picked up, and taken over the line for a try. There's no garuantees, there.
I don't think the Hodges sideline incident mattered all that much, but then, I don't think he touched the ball any way after the forward pass.
Ultimately, though, something probably does need to be done about the standard of refeering in the NRL. I've watched the Queensland Cup a bit this season and was impressed by the impartiality and, more crucially, ability to get respect from players the referees displayed there. Perhaps the NRL needs to employ more referees in general, rotating them between the grades to ensure parity and practice?
I think the Broncos were probably a little lucky last night.
The angle I saw the Berrigan obstruction run/head-high penalty from made it appear as though he'd absolutely been axed by Slater, but watching the replay showed he was falling into it and Slater's probably more than entitled to feel a tad unhappy about the result. I think a lot of "shepards" ths season have been the result of successful decoy runs, and I'm personally not sold on the idea of that particular attacking run being illegal. Your mileage may vary.
King I think copped a bad call. I personally couldn't see anything wrong with it, but that's just me. There may well be some sort of obscure rule relating to that specific occasion occurring, and it might even have been correctly applied. I'm not sure what was going on, there.
I also think Slater did strip the ball. To me it looked as though Berrigan was right about to loose the ball, but Slater then took possession of it. Sure, the Storm might have gathered possession of it aafter it had been lost- but they might have knocked it on, been trapped in-goal, or it could have been sent backwards, picked up, and taken over the line for a try. There's no garuantees, there.
I don't think the Hodges sideline incident mattered all that much, but then, I don't think he touched the ball any way after the forward pass.
Ultimately, though, something probably does need to be done about the standard of refeering in the NRL. I've watched the Queensland Cup a bit this season and was impressed by the impartiality and, more crucially, ability to get respect from players the referees displayed there. Perhaps the NRL needs to employ more referees in general, rotating them between the grades to ensure parity and practice?
