I don't think we're being unfair to suggest this hasn't been a great year for the Bunker, or officiating in general.
Let me please preface this. Refereeing is a difficult job. You're being watched by hundreds of thousands of people, most of whom have access to multiple slow motion replays.
Which is also the reason I have such a hard time stomaching the repeated errors in the Bunker.
This past weekend saw an all time blunder when Liam Kennedy failed to advise that Stephen Crichton be sin binned for a shot identical to one that had lead to sin bins all season.
The fallout has lead to Australian Rugby League Chairman Peter V'landys promising a full Bunker review at the end of the season.
This is brilliant news for every fan of the game, and something that is long overdue.
I'm of the opinion that this doesn't need to be a massive process. A few simple steps should be implemented, not to perfect the process (it will never be perfect) but to make it as fool proof as possible.
Before I start, I cannot comment on the training undertaken by officials. I'm not there and there's no credible reports indicating what the processes may be. Saying "simplify training" is easy, but we don't have an insight, thus it won't be an entry.
Below are those five steps I would implement from the start of 2025 to give the Bunker and on field officials the best chance possible:
Stop the press conferences
First and foremost the NRL needs to put an immediate end to these awful, Monday afternoon press conferences called by Head of Football Graham Annesley.
They achieve nothing!
Referring back to Friday evening, when everyone in the world other than Liam Kennedy saw a sin bin in the Stephen Crichton tackle, Annesley confirmed the error.
Awesome... What did that achieve? Other than to further upset Warriors fans who knew darn well they were on the end of a raw call?
These conferences put officials on a hiding to nothing.
Either Annesley stands up and confirms these obvious errors, or he backs officials and gets accused of backing his team. Those are the only outcomes.
The rugby league news cycle moves quickly. You don't need to be reminded, days after the fact, that your team was 'robbed'.
These referee debriefs should happen behind closed doors, not in front of already emotional fans, such as myself, who rush to publish "I told you so" articles ... such at this entry.
One dedicated bunker official per round
For the life of me, I simply cannot understand how this has not already been implemented.
My KnockOn Podcast co-host Terry has been waxing lyrical about this for five years now.
There needs to be one dedicated Bunker official each round, at the very least!
I'd argue there should be one official for the entire season. Of course you'd need two or three ready as sickness and other circumstances happen.
At minimum, one person should be looking after every game in a round.
For those yelling "oh but it's too hard ..." just stop.
Most people work a 9 to 5, Monday to Friday. Hundreds of thousands of people watch every NRL game, every week.
You're telling me that one person can't be in the Bunker for four days a week, from March until early October?
Ok, this doesn't guarantee every decision will be correct. Nothing does. It does guarantee consistency across a weekend though.
The same person applying the same logic to the same incidents gives us the best chance of consistency.
This simply has to happen. ASAP!
Five elite referees and reserve grade rotation
This will cause controversy, and probably hurt feelings, but its the elite rugby league competition in the world and needs to be treated as such.
Five elite referees need to be named and allocated.
Right now I believe Adam Gee to be the best official in the game. From there, pick your four. I don't really care who.
They are allocated to games each and every week.
The other three games are allocated to the best performers in NSW/QLD Cup, on a rotational basis if required.
NSWRL cover most games for NSW Cup. They have highlights available for all games.
I understand you can't have a Bunker, or a video ref given the lack of camera angles, but you can judge applicable decision via these replays.
Reward the young referees who are doing well. Or less terribly ...
Of course there are going to be outliers where the elite referees are injured sick, rested or whatever the case may be, but appoint a core and rotate the others to gain experience.
Three person panel - including one non referee
I would be absolutely shocked if Jarryd Maxwell is still there, in his current capacity, at the end of this review.
The errors have just been too often and too obvious.
I'm not going to call for his position. He's not the one out there making these errors. That said, the buck ultimately stops with him.
I'd be making the head of referees a three person panel. Importantly I would be making at least one member of that panel a non referee.
A former player perhaps?
Right now 80 per cent of social media can agree on a decision being right or wrong. There's always a percentage who are either too invested to see properly, or just don't understand ... or just want to be different.
You ask three people and two agree, well majority rules. It's better than asking one of the lower percentage who seem to see something that few others do and treating that as gospel.
That's where we stand right now. What Graham Annesley or Jarryd Maxwell consider as correct, well their track records aren't great.
Take the referee bias out of it, for one person.
Referees back other referees, it's natural! Have someone who just knows the game, has played the game etc to have a say.
Craig Bellamy would be the ideal candidate if he ever retires from his Storm coaching position.
Use common sense
"Well duh!" I hear already from the comments. This seems so simple.
It isn't!
We need to drop this "conclusive evidence to overturn" garbage right away.
On Saturday night we saw Sualauvi Faalogo awarded a try despite the ball clearly being grounded on the dead ball line.
In normal motion, ok you had no way or really knowing. A try was given. Fair enough, I suppose.
Due to the fact that one angle showed perhaps maybe a slight part of the ball maybe potentially being grounded before the line, there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the live call.
Despite, again, there being all the evidence in the world to overturn it.
Use common sense. It's no try!
Take the burden off the official, who probably saw one reply and went to overturn it, only to be hamstrung by yet another over complicated process.
More biased rhetoric.
Once you hop off the trial by media of Crichton, who should have been a penalty and left at that, your opinion might actually count for something.
As you say, use common sense.
RTS fell into the tackle, seeking to press his head in a gap between the players.
A gap closed by a player moving sideways into his teammate, as you see many, many times in each game.
YEA GET RID OF IT, ITS THE MOST INCONSISTENT THING IN THE GAME, SOME OF THE XALL REALLY MAKE ME THINK THAT SOME OF THE VIDEO REF’S R CHEATING. IF THE BLOKES WHO RUNNING THE GAME REALLY CARE FOR THE GAME IT WILL GO.
When player falls b4 the tackle is even made and he hits his head should just b play on , thats not a head high tackle its bs. Johns said it 2night what stop a player from do it just to get a penalty to help has team, falling into a tackle is the players own fault get up and play the ball. The games starting turn people away from the game with some of these dump rulz and badly reffed game.
What I would change.
1 Go back to a Main Ref and a Pocket Ref. I appreciate that this will ruin your “five elites refs and rotate the rest”
2 Make a clear definition of what the bunker can and cannot do. Preferably, they cannot get in the ref’s ear, about off-sides, unbalanced penalty counts etc. They get involved ONLY when the ref invites them to get involved – otherwise they keep their mouth’s closed.
I might make one exception. If the bunker guys see something that looks like it warrants a send-off (eg Latrell thumping Joey Manu) then they can intterject. Otherwise , keep schtum.