Des Hasler calls for change after state of NRL officiating sinks to embarrassing new low

Gold Coast Titans coach Des Hasler says confidence seems to be low with the NRL's referees at the moment and warns it needs to be addressed as soon as possible. Round 25 dished up a number of contentious calls - particularly around high shots and sin bins - and Hasler says there is "a lot of confusion" for players and coaches about what constitutes a high tackle, and what is likely to result in a player going on report or being sent to the bin.

The drama kicked off in the first game of round 25 when Haumole Olakau'atu was controversially sin-binned for a tackle that appeared to be shoulder to shoulder and resulted in just a fine for the Manly star. Then on Friday night, Bulldogs captain Stephen Crichton was allowed to remain on the field despite knocking out Roger Tuivasa-Sheck after his shoulder made contact to the head of the Warriors star.

Hasler's side only had Jaimin Jolliffe placed on report in Sunday's 48-22 loss to the Roosters, which saw five Tri Colours players go into the book for various offences. One of those was a high shot from Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, who was only just returning from suspension but looks likely to spend more time on the sidelines after the bunker reviewed his high hit on Gold Coast hooker Sam Verrills, in the lead-up to a try by Titans winger Alofiana Khan-Pereira.

The incident was missed by the on-field referee at the time, much like one on Saturday night that saw South Sydney captain Cameron Murray sin-binned some two minutes after a high shot on Newcastle forward Tyson Frizell. "Watching the (Souths) game, (referee) Chris Butler didn't sin-bin a high shot (by Murray) on Frizell," Hasler said.

"One or two minutes later the call came from somewhere and the other player (Murray) was sin-binned." There have been calls for a summit between coaches, officials and administrators to resolve such issues and many fans agree there is very little consistency with refereeing decisions in 2024.

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It was hard not to compare the Waerea-Hargreaves sin bin with the high shot involving Crichton that escaped similar punishment on Friday night. And many league fans will be eager to hear the explanation from NRL head of football Graham Annesley in his weekly address on Monday afternoon. The Roosters also had Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii and Victor Radley placed on report for high shots, with Daniel Tupou reported for dangerous contact and prop Spencer Leniu for a shoulder charge.

Des Hasler says confusion is rife around refereeing in the NRL

Hasler says confusion is rife for fans, players and coaches around the officiating at the moment and warned it needed to be addressed before the finals series. "There is not a lot of confidence with players around what is a high shot and what isn't a high shot... what is deemed (to be a high shot) and what is coming back (from officials)," Hasler said. "There is a lot of nervous people on both sides at the moment. The officials seem to be down on confidence a little bit at the moment and it is probably something we have to address pretty quickly going into finals...

"I have every confidence in Peter (V'landys) and Andrew (Abdo) but it is something we need to address. There is a lot of confusion. We need to be really confident about that part of the game because there were a lot of penalties today and there were a lot of players on report."

While high contact and sin bins have dominated much of the debate around the standard of refereeing and the inconsistencies over the last week, there have been a number of other head-scratching calls that have angered viewers. One of the most glaring no-calls from officials came late in the second half of Cronulla's 38-10 win over the Dragons on Sunday when Sam Stronestreet scored a try for the Sharks off an obvious forward pass.

The touch judge was positioned perfectly to see the pass from Kayal Iro sail forward to Stronestreet before he touched down in the corner, with Fox Sports commentators Andrew Voss and Michael Ennis both agreeing it looked clear cut but was somehow allowed to stand, with the bunker unable to chalk off tries for forward passes. “Oh boy, gee whiz, that’s a metre forward in front of the touch judge,” Ennis said.

NRL state of play with two rounds remaining:

1. Storm - 42 points (+213 for-and-against)

2. Roosters - 36 points (+269)

3. Sharks - 36 points (+204)

4. Panthers - 36 points (+158)

5. Bulldogs - 34 points (+146)

6. Cowboys - 32 points (+43)

7. Sea Eagles - 31 points (+121)

8. Dragons - 28 points (-120)

9. Broncos - 26 points (+2)

10. Dolphins - 26 points (-27)

11. Knights - 26 points (-70)

12. Raiders - 26 points (-131)

Key matches in Round 26:

• Eels v Dragons

• Dolphins v Broncos

• Knights v Titans

• Roosters v Raiders