Bill Harrigan and Stuart Raper have been sacked as bosses of the NRL refs following some controversial decisions in the play offs. They don't mess about down there.

Russell Smith is temporarily in charge until a replacement is found. Wonder is Stuart Cummings could be tempted to apply

Why sack them? That's a bit like blaming the car if you jump a red light.

It there is a succession of errors in a department and nothing is done to put them right, ultimately the head of department must pay.

My personal view is that Stuart Cummings was one of the worst referees we've ever had. How he ended up being in charge passes any understanding, but since then he appears to have overseen an even bigger decline in standards and consistency, and to rub salt into the wound, he also appears to be one of these guys who just laughs off criticism.

If there was anyone in the real world who ought to be heading for the same fate as Harrigan and Raper, it's Cummings, but then this isn't the real world - it's British Rugby league.

Offer to double whatever they're offering Smith to get him back over here to replace Cummings.

Good post !

"Bang-on" with that post Cruncher! Just about sums Cummings up. His total lack of "action" with regards to totally inept performances from his officials "on a regular basis", in my opinion is having a drastic effect on the standard of our game and if this isnt addressed sooner rather than later, its also going to start having an affect on attendance figures. (Have lost count on how many times i`ve left a game feeling "cheated", because the man in the middle is of the opinion that the crowd has handed over their hard earned money simply to watch "Him" and not the players)!

There have been some shocking decisions this year in the NRL most of which involved video referees and ultimately you have to look at the boos as to why nothing was fixed.

Correct.



Agree again. Always liked Smith (that was until he caned us in the 97 game with Hunter Mariners and then cost us the GF in 2000 after he gave a penalty when we put Sullivan in touch that they scored the winner from) and he certainly can't do a worse job.

So, two referees in NRL games, and decisions are still shocking. What next then? Three referees? Four?

We fans are always going to look at things from a partisan perspective, so often when we say a referee has performed poorly, we mean he didn't give us any breaks. But there are several things a real referees' controller could get hold off quickly if he had a mind to.

The endless controversy about dummy runners interfering with defences near the line. Sometimes tries are given, sometimes they aren't. Every situation is different, granted ... but so many tries have been ruled out because of 'infringements' which never were. Common sense needs to be applied. Just because there was an off-the-ball collision somewhere along the defensive line, that does not necessarily constitute obstruction - the refs and the video refs are infuriatingly inconsistent over this, and should be given firm, sensible guidelines. The same applies to 'interference' at the play-the-ball. It shouldn't be as open to the referee's current interpretation as it appears to be. Did the guy interfere with his opposite number, or didn't he? Did he prevent him getting up or playing the ball? Simple questions. Putting a hand on a shoulder, etc, shouldn't count.

Other little things could be looked at. Video refs have no excuse for making mistakes, yet they do. If they can't see, they should return the decision to the match-referee. People like Richard Silverwood should not be asking the video ref what the penalty count is. That information is nothing to do with him, and should have no bearing on his control of the match. I'm sure there are other items too, but time isn't totally on my side today ...