From daily telegraph on Tuesday and seems big Sam got his wish.
SOUTH Sydney champion Sam Burgess says NRL players should have a greater voice in deciding the direction of the game.
His comments come amid calls for the governing body to overhaul its almighty video review bunker system, and urgently fix the referee “crisis” plaguing the game at the elite level.
The crisis calls have hit fever pitch in the wake of a refereeing disaster at Shark Park on Friday night which arguably cost Canberra a win.
The competition committee — comprised of current and former coaches, rugby league legends and NRL figures — is charged with overseeing the direction of the game and has the power to change rules and regulations accordingly.
The committee has also had representatives from the Rugby League Players Association sit on it, as well as former Australian captain Cameron Smith and Greg Inglis.
Burgess would like to see more current players involved in the discussions.
“Yeah I think so … senior players, experienced players who have been around a while, it could be good to go in there and talk about it,” Burgess said at the Fox LeagueRetro Round launch on Monday.
“I don’t know if it will happen.”
The issue Burgess was speaking on specifically was the place of the NRL’s Bunker in the game.
The new-age video review system is supposed to be state-of-the-art and was sold as a way of eliminating human error in scoring decisions.
But it’s been much maligned since its inception into the NRL, and has been slammed in the wake of Friday’s Raiders’ robbery.
Opinion, as always, is split on the issue. But there’s a large faction of rugby league supporters who would be more than happy to see the review system scrapped entirely.
Burgess says the video review can be good for the game, but it needs to be used properly by the men behind the button.
“I think while we’ve got it we may as well use it,” Burgess said of the technology.
“I think it does become hard when you get a rule book out and you watch things frame by frame … it becomes hard to adjudicate because the game isn’t played frame by frame.
“These are all big topics in the game.
“The Bunker, leave it in. I think that’s better than not having it. If you take it away then people will complain about not having it.”
Roosters skipper Boyd Cordner agrees the NRL is better off with the video review system in place, but admits there’s some tinkering to be done to get the best out of it.
“I reckon there is a way we can make the system better but I don’t know the answer now,” Cordner said.
“I think you have to have a video referee. There are ways it can be improved.
“I think if you take away the Bunker, with some of the tries the refs can miss and then we’ll be saying why don’t we have the Bunker?
‘I reckon have the Bunker but let’s try to find an easier way to come to a decision.”
Newcastle coach Nathan Brown again raised the possibility of introducing a captain’s challenge into the game.
The idea would be for the on-field referee to make a ruling on the scoring play, but the captain from each side then has the option to challenge the decision.
Cordner — captain of the Roosters — said he would be happy to have the power to challenge a decision during the game.
But Burgess said he hasn’t even given the idea thought.
“A lot of thinking needs to go into that … there’s no point me wasting time thinking about it at the minute,” he said.
“Someone else will make the decision whether they want it or not, and then we’ll go from there.”
Replies
Just like last night eh Sam you cheating deadshit!!!
This is my blueprint for how the game should be officiated ….
Every game to be controlled by a 8 man crew similar to American football.
1 single on field referee who is also the crew chief who is the ultimate decision maker but is essentially responsible for policing the ruck, which is the single most contentious area in the game.
4 touch judges, 2 on each side of the field roughly policing half of each sideline. The touchies would be responsible for monitoring the 10m, offside, forward passes, knock ons & 40/20's.
2 in goal judges, 1 at each end with the responsibility of monitoring any try scoring situations & potential obstructions.
If any of the 6 assistants detect an infringement in their area of responsibility they raise their flag and communicate via radio to the crew chief in real time.
Finally the 8th official would be responsible for all sideline game management, ie: interchanges & substitutions, HIA & blood bins, sin bins & send offs etc, as well as being a back up in case of any one official getting injured.
I think this is a much better scenario, but most importantly only 1 referee & no video ref.
As for the bunker, I think the NRL has spent way too much money for it to be just unilaterally scrapped, so I would like to see it become the leagues game data collection centre, with real time, in game up link to coaches boxes to provide coaching staffs with any and all relevant statistical data, raw or advanced, that the coaches would like for their game management. This data can be a great tool for player evaluation as well.
That's just my thoughts anyway.