A contested fixture and one of the more entertaining games of Round 7, the Dragons and Rooster's ANZAC Day match this past Monday is, unfortunately, continuing to be discussed for all the wrong reasons.
A hard-fought 14-12 victory for the Dragons, it's the Roosters who've remained in the headlines as the contention surrounding Daniel Tupou's dangerous high tackle of Dragon's winger Mikaele Ravalawa lingers.
After Tupou clothes-lined Ravalawa early in the second half, the Dragons were awarded a penalty and Tupou was subsequently placed on report. However, the officiating was brought into question as this particular type of tackle, or in fact, one's far less malicious, have landed other players, at a minimum, in the sin bin.
Tupou has since been hit with a Grade 2 Dangerous High Tackle, which carries a 2 game suspension (or 1 with an early guilty plea), but it's the on-field officiating that has left both the league and fans baffled.
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This on-field blunder has led the NRL to axe the leading official of the game, Adam Gee.
Coaches and players have been vocal in this early season about the lack of consistency in officiating, both on the field and in the bunker.
Greg Hartley, who's a former leading referee in the NRL, has spoken out on the officiating blunder.
“I watched it twice and Tupou should have been sin-binned in today’s game. What warrants a sin bin these days? It’s totally confusing. The public doesn’t understand. We don’t know what’s going on with the game," Hartley said.
Another lingering issue with these types of on-field misses by officials is the ammo it's giving to players and coaches that are making claims of bias within the league - the higher profile players and teams getting preferential treatment in regards to decision making from officials.
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And Dragons chairman Craig Young sounded off on these looming claims of bias', saying "You could perceive that to be right,” when questioned about these higher-profile teams receiving preferential treatment.
Despite NRL boss Andrew Abdo recognising the miss by Gee in not sending Tupou to the bin, he maintains the league holds no bias and that it simply comes down to establishing consistency.
“Comments made by individuals after a game, that’s their view, that’s their right but we’ve got no concern around there being any bias toward any club whatsoever,” Abdo said.
“Is it disappointing that people come out with comments saying that teams are not getting a fair go? That is always disappointing, particularly when they are in positions of leadership and without the benefit of statistics.
“Of course there will also be individual decisions that are always debated. That’s the nature of sport and there are going to be mistakes that are made. I’m never happy because there is always more that we can do.”
The incident between Tupou and Ravalawa was reviewed by the bunker as well, which was being headed by referee Ashley Klein, and no further action was taken.
This has led some to question Klein's role in the blunder, who, at this stage, remains employed by the league and is set to officiate two games this weekend.