NRL head of football Graham Annesley concedes his referees are sometimes on a hiding to nothing but insists not all controversial decisions are wrong ones.
The NRL’s officials are again in the spotlight headed into the third week of the finals, after four players were sin-binned in last weekend’s two semi-finals.
Annesley has backed each of the binnings, most notably that of Manly’s Jake Trbojevic for a professional foul in Friday night’s loss to South Sydney.
As a point of how a decision can be judged differently by experts, Annesley played contrasting pieces of live commentary from different networks in his weekly briefing that both backed and criticised the call.
But he said just because it was viewed as debatable, it didn’t mean the referees had erred in marching Trbojevic from the field.
“We tend to always default to the position the referee is wrong,” Annesley said.
“The loudest noise is the aggrieved party in anything, any aspect of life.
“So if you disagree with a decision you are going to make more noise than someone who agrees with it.
“As soon as there is controversy people tend to jump to the view that they are wrong as soon as there is controversy.
“There is always another side of a story. Just because a decision is controversial doesn’t mean it’s always wrong.”
Annesley also reaffirmed that the NRL’s slapping rule was here to stay, after both Cody Walker and Cameron Smith spent time on the sidelines for strikes on the weekend.
Both calls were criticised over the weekend, as former NSW State of Origin coach Phil Gould claimed the game had become a nanny state.
But Annesley pointed out the crackdown had been brought in with mass support two seasons ago, before the act was virtually rubbed out of the game.
“Of course it is frustrating (the constant criticism), but I get that that’s the nature of the game,” Annesley said.
“We have incidents that create diverse views. And not everyone looks at the same incident the same ways.
“It is difficult for referees to escape controversy because of that diversity of views.
“But they have a job to do and they understand what comes with that.”