Following Graham Annesley’s admission that the referees ‘got it wrong’ in awarding the obstruction penalty that decided the controversial North Queensland v Wests Tigers game on Sunday, Phil Gould has claimed that fear of making a mistake is leading on-field referees to rely too heavily on the Bunker.
The fiery end to the contest has been exhaustively analysed. While Annesley admitted the penalty award itself was incorrect, he went to lengths to defend referee Chris Butler for allowing a captain’s challenge after the final play of the game.
The issue was the subject of much conjecture, and it came to a head on Nine’s 100% Footy, with Gould claiming the fear-induced reliance on technology is the root of the problem.
“We’re getting more and more reliant on technology like the Bunker,” Gould mused.
“The philosophy from those who run the referees and tell them how they should handle situations has meant referees have relied more and more on technology rather than make the decisions themselves.
“The referee should have had that matter in hand, just blown full-time, no one would have complained. We move on, Wests Tigers had a brilliant win, they won, it’s all done.
“But because the referees are petrified of being singled out (they use the Bunker).”
Gould also claimed there was a divide in the referee’s squad over the issue.
“The Bunker is there to protect referees, that’s its primary objective. That’s why there is a section of referees who has been pushing management to more use and more importance.
“But there is also a core of referees that is totally against that philosophy, that want to be left to make the decision themselves.
“What you had (on Sunday) was the referee saying ‘Well, I’m just going to dump this up to the Bunker,”
“The referee should have just ruled full-time”.