The NRL bunker should be barred from getting involved in send-off decisions, former Test forward Sam Thaiday said after the Kevin Proctor biting furore.
Referee Henry Perenara raised the possibility of a send-off with the bunker in Saturday's Titans vs Sharks match, after Proctor was accused by Shaun Johnson of biting his arm.
The bunker determined that a bite had occurred; it can rule on reportable foul play but in this instance, the on-field referee then used its findings to send-off an offender.
The Gold Coast captain was subsequently banned for four matches by the NRL judiciary; a penalty that perhaps betrayed contention over what precisely happened, given that other recent biting bans have ranged from eight to 12 weeks.
Proctor insisted that he did not bite Johnson, whose forearm was wrapped tightly across his mouth during a tackle. Thaiday told Wide World of Sports that whatever occurred, the bunker should not have had a say in Proctor's send-off and the practice must end.
"No, not at all - I think the bunker should be there for try-scoring and that's it," Thaiday said on QLDER.
"To help the referees out on the field, to make sure that a try is called correctly. That's the only thing I think the bunker should be doing.
"I think the result of the game should lay in the hands of the two teams that are out there playing and the referee. It's the referee's job to guide the players within the rules and it's the players' job to win the game; to get out there and play the game and entertain us.
"I look at this [Proctor] incident and Shaun Johnson did blow up on the field but he didn't make an official complaint, so I don't know why we've gone this far."
Johnson ended up giving evidence in support of New Zealand Test teammate Proctor, though it was not enough to have the Titans forward cleared.
The judiciary panel of Ben Creagh, Sean Garlick and Bob Lindner deliberated for just eight minutes after a hearing lasting two-and-a-half hours. The four-game sanction followed James Graham's 12-game ban in 2012 for biting Billy Slater in the grand final and Brad Morrin's eight-game suspension for biting Timana Tahu in 2007.
Proctor was the first man ever to be sent-off for biting, with the incident occurring in his 250th NRL match.
Send-offs are rare in modern rugby league and Thaiday believes that the punishment should only be decided by the on-field referee.
The bunker remains a controversial part of the NRL. The league's head of football, Graham Annesley, admitted that "mass confusion" occurred over a captain's challenge in the Raiders vs Broncos game last Saturday, in which the on-field referee was ill-informed as to what the bunker could rule upon.
There is ongoing debate about whether the bunker should be allowed to rule on forward passes; something that current technology can't enable, according to Annesley.
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/kevin-proctor-biting-ban-bunker-should-not-have-ordered-send-off-sam-thaiday-says/ef305117-9bca-4d97-83bd-e7dbdf15f528
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