Time to leave the refs alone
By Paul Malone
August 29, 2007http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,22324985-23214,00.html
IF Des Hasler wasn't the best bloke in rugby league as a player, he was certainly in the semi-finals.
Hasler was nicknamed "Sorry" by his teammates because he seemed to be incapable of completing a sentence without apologising for something.
The former Manly and Australian halfback was a cheerful figure without, it seemed, a bad word about anyone.
Then something happened. Unless other evidence turns up, the best guess has to be that he changed when he became an National Rugby League head coach.
Now the man affectionately known as "Sorry" is unapologetic about his repeated tirades about referees.
Coach Hasler has been spitting chips after his team's past two losses and last Sunday even blamed the refereeing for his team's loss by 22 points in Auckland. That's 22 points, mind you.
In his interview after the loss to the Warriors, Hasler looked overworked and overwrought, his hair tousled.
For a second, I thought it was footage of Nick Nolte being interviewed after the actor's famously dishevelled mug-shot upon being arrested.
Manly insiders say Hasler doesn't sleep much. They also say he dislikes being interviewed by reporters, which, as is sometimes the case with Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett, makes his mood look worse than it really is.
Hasler was fined $10,000 by the NRL for visiting the referees' room in Auckland and also sparking a heated conversation with video referee Chris Ward.
At the press conference, Hasler took the long handle to Ward's decision to disallow a try to winger Michael Robertson on an obstruction call which he said turned the game.
"I am almost embarrassed for (NRL referees boss) Robert Finch because there is obviously some clear confusion (among match officials)," Hasler said.
The previous weekend, Hasler was annoyed by Sean Hampstead's decisions in a six-point loss to Souths.
But he concluded that inevitably when he spoke to Finch about it, "it'll be the touchie's fault".
Two weeks ago, Finch told me the intensity and personal nature of the criticism of the referees had become the worst he had encountered in his 30-plus years in the game.
Games which have passed since then without one coach or another's condemnation of an official have been rare indeed.
Blaming the referee has been part of league's culture for decades. But so bad is the "ref rage" now that the main reason to play games at the moment seems to be provide coaches, players, officials, the media and fans with fresh reasons to lambast the referees.
Canberra coach Neil Henry scalded referee Shayne Hayne and video ref Graeme West last Sunday before launching into a dissertation claiming the game's officiating was a "lottery" which could cost a team dearly in the finals.
Henry's intention was plain soon after he entered the Suncorp Stadium media conference room last Sunday.
His butter-fingered team had lost by 11 points to a Broncos team which had in recent weeks been playing with the cutting edge of a 30-year-old carving knife.
"I want you blokes (reporters) to ask about the decisions, so fire away," Henry said.
Someone promptly took the cue and asked about the Todd Carney no-try decision by video referee Graeme West.
I wish someone had asked: "Why couldn't your fullback bring the ball out without turning it over late in the second half?"
Or even: "How come your team didn't have the discipline to complete its sets better (completing 22 of 39)?"
Hasler and Henry were just last weekend's most extreme examples of "ref rage".
Someone else will probably maintain the rage in the high-pressure last round before the finals.
Coaches are all too aware of how much pressure is involved in coaching an NRL team, but too few have empathy, except when it suits them, for the job of refereeing.
The NRL quickly rejected a call from Hasler on Monday to make the video referees unemployed and empower the referees to decide on key calls from a television on the sideline - as in the American National Football League.
Many would say it would make the NRL referees more accountable.
Last Sunday, Hasler reportedly strode into the press conference with prepared notes on refereeing and said: "This is going to be a beauty . . . shame we're not going to be talking about football."
Yes, it sure is a shame coaches aren't doing more to encourage rugby league fans to talk about anything other than refereeing.
