A hand in the face is supposed to be a penalty too and that was the first offence.

But there was so little in the "knee". The fact that I very much doubt his knee came into contact with Prior in any way probably makes it a little difficult to send him off for kneeing a bloke. At worst he shinned him in the shoulder. And even then it was more of a push than a strike. To send him off for that would have been embarrassing.

I don't think it was an attempted knee, more of a push his legs into the attackers face whilst getting from the floor in an attempt to put him off and force an error. You see it most weeks in Super League. I think the retaliation was more for the thumb in the eye.

So the officials aren't doing that properly either.




twas more than that.

Wasn't exactly a Morley on Hughes effort I agree. But I do recall a Newtown player getting sent off against Norths in 06, for raising his knee into the ball player at the ruck. He was sent off. Ricky Stuart was there and gave the ref a gob full at half time. The ref was Russell Smith. He saw it, he penalised it. He did what he was meant to. NRL refs cop out. Atleast Bill Harrigan had the bolloçks to take decisive action on the pitch at that time. Now the refs run scared in case they get demoted to the lower grades and eventually lose their $100k+ benefits NRL refs salary. Much easier to let someone else sort it out after.

FMD one game in and the ref bashing has started. And it's not even justified. Welcome back NRL.

Not our fault that don't have the balls to make tough calls on the field. Happens in the UK, why not Oz?

What tough call? There was nothing in it. If a pommy ref had sent him off for that he would have made a massive cock-up. The match review committe is expected to cite him on dropping the knees charge which carries 200 points. That's it. The refs made the right call - penalty and on report. You have relays, every angle available and you're sitting on your on the lounge and you still got it wrong so you have no right to bash the refs.

They set the bar with the Hayne headbutts. If headbuttng someone isn't a send off then you can pretty much forget about a red card for anything.

To be a ref in the NRL you're not allowed to have one of these...

Late to this, but I didn't think it was anywhere near worth a sending off. Punishment enough to give away a penalty in a bad position plus on report.

Well to be fair, you do live in Queensland.

the refs this week were too inconsistant for me. clown penalised dragons 3 times for playing the ball incorectly( right call) but the ref didnt once penalise the warriors for the same offence but they did it repeatedly.no problems with clamping down on a specific problem as long as it is done across the board

I heard a lovely comment at our game last weekend.

"The ref always plays to the rules. His rules."

www.nrl.com/referees-stood-down/ ... fault.aspx A bit old, but this is why refs here brick it and place people on report or not take the necessary action at the time on the pitch. Just do a Pontius Pilate.

www.nrl.com/referees-stood-down/ ... fault.aspx A bit old, but this is why refs here brick it and place people on report or not take the necessary action at the time on the pitch. Just do a Pontius Pilate.

Putting stuff on report should have died withg the advent of 2 refs IMO.
Touchies plus 2 refs....if something happens, have a conflab and make a decision. What's the point in having the option of 10 minutes if you hardley ever see it used?

I believe that if an NRL Ref walked into MacDonnalds and was asked if they wanted to supersize their meal they'd "go upstairs" for a second opinion