May 8th, 2018

May 8th, 2018

Rugby League immortal Andrew Johns says the NRL needs to overhaul the way games are officiated and bring back one referee to oversee a match.

Johns’ solution to the current officiating problems of NRL matches followed yet another weekend of controversial refereeing decisions.

The most notable was during the Storm and Dragons match on Sunday, where Melbourne was denied a try after the pocket referee called for an infringement in the play the ball rather than playing advantage. The decision led to a penalty being blown to the attacking side which robbed them of a try.

Johns said the NRL should cut the amount of match officials involved in the adjudication of the game.

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Joey says the NRL should revert back to one referee.

“I think we need one referee. The touch judges constantly talking in their ears must be such a distraction because the referees aren’t having a feel for the game.

“When people are in your ear giving you information from here there and everywhere, from the pocket referee to the linesman your head would be scrambled.

“So for me let’s just get back to one referee.”

The former champion halfback believes the video referee is also holding up the speed of the game.

“I just wish they’d blow it up and let the game flow. They should have the in-goal touch judges for put downs and etc.

“But there’s no way they’ll scrap the video ref because they’ve spent so much money on the bunker.

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Dean Pay was fined for being critical of the referees.

“They should be allowed two looks at it in normal time. No super slow-mo, the game isn’t played in super slow-mo. Because at the moment there are too many penalties.”

Johns also weighed into the fine handed to Bulldogs coach Dean Pay for being critical of the referees after his side’s loss to Brisbane.

The NRL fined Pay $25,000 for questioning the integrity and performance of referee Gerard Sutton and video review official Steve Chiddy.

Pay described as "ridiculous" the sin-binning of Moses Mbye for a professional foul and hinted that there was a conspiracy against his side when he said: "It's like we are not supposed to win."

Johns said Pay shouldn’t have been fined and that NRL referees are officiating ‘with no common sense”.