Mark Levy is the host of 2GB's Wide World of Sports radio show. Tune in from 6pm-7pm, Monday to Thursday!
The standard of refereeing this season has been quite refreshing, with very little criticism.
But after watching the footy over the weekend, it's clear to me they didn't get the same memo that was circulated to the 16 clubs.
The league reminded match officials, clubs and players of the need to adhere to the rules with "minimal tolerance for avoidable contact with the head or neck".
The media release from headquarters - dated Wednesday, May 5 - pointed to a crackdown which was aimed at "ensuring the game remains as safe as possible for players and entertaining and free flowing for NRL fans".
If that's the case, why wasn't anything done about a player dropping his knees into the back of an opponent and why were some players sent to the sin-bin for making contact with the head and others stayed on the field?
Yes, the NRL match officials are human and make mistakes, but it's the inconsistency that's frustrating for the coaches, players and fans.
What's the point of investing millions of dollars in video technology when the people who are employed in the Bunker are still missing obvious acts of foul play?
It was an ugly night for the referees on Friday when Dylan Brown went unpunished for sliding his knees into the back of Roosters playmaker Drew Hutchison, who spent the weekend in hospital recovering from broken ribs and a punctured lung.
The Parramatta Eels five-eighth has since accepted a three-match suspension for making dangerous contact with Hutchison, who looked in agony after the attempted tackle. The break in play gave the officials ample time to review it, yet Steve Chiddy cleared it.
I watched on from a function room on the NSW Central Coast and the footy fans near me all said the same thing: "This should be a send-off or Brown will at least go to the bin." You can imagine the response when the officials did nothing; most people shouted, "Are they kidding themselves?"
One replay was enough to determine the seriousness of the incident and thankfully the match review committee took the appropriate action. Brown has also apologised to Hutchison, insisting: "It was an accident and never my intention for him to get hurt."
Head of football Graham Annesley wasted no time responding to the incident by dropping Chiddy from the Bunker.
He told 2GB's Continuous Call Team: "All the officials have the responsibility to make sure these things aren't missed. Whether it's the referees, the touch judges or the people in the Bunker, it's our role to make sure these incidents are picked up and that we provide the safest possible environment for players to play the game."
Annesley should be commended for acting swiftly and owning up to the mistake on behalf of the officials, given some of his predecessors would be ducking and weaving questions for days. Just like players and coaches, there needs to be accountability.
Peter Filmer is chairman of NSWRL Referees and reached out to me over the weekend, saying: "I feel compelled to appeal for a bit of balance coming out of the events of Friday night.
"No official goes out to make mistakes and like the players, they go out to set the highest standard, but they are above everything else people and are prone like everyone in life to make mistakes and they will be held highly accountable for those errors. All I ask is for people to understand that officials are human beings with families."
As much as I respect Filmer and the role of the officials in any professional sporting code, they are open to criticism just like the players, coaches and administrators in our game.
Jared Maxwell is the new man in charge of the referees and it's safe to say the honeymoon period is over. He's responsible for ensuring the match officials are acting on the edicts coming from Rugby League Central and they missed the mark on the weekend.
Maxwell won't last long in the position if the whistleblowers don't get it right and I'm sure he's already been hauled over the coals by his bosses, who have been in the media over the weekend talking about the knock-on effect it'll have on the game.
ARL Commission chairman Peter V'landys declared in the Newscorp papers: "You can spend millions of dollars trying to encourage participation, but incidents like Friday night that are not acted on at the elite level puts that money to waste. It has an effect on mums out there not wanting their kids to play."
Rugby league is under attack from the other codes like AFL and soccer, so it's important for us to adapt and ensure it's safe and the next generation of superstars stay in the game.
I've heard people accusing the games administrators of going soft because of the crackdown on contact with the head and neck, but that couldn't be further from the truth.
The product we're seeing at the moment is the best it's been in a long time and the league is simply policing something that's been in the rulebook since 1908; you cannot make contact with the head.
You're wasting your breath if you think they'll ever revert back to the bloodbaths of the 70s and 80s. The game has changed and rugby league has been forced to move with the times.
from WWOS https://wwos.nine.com.au/nrl/mark-levy-column-refereeing/d5714c0a-9c9b-4a2b-ac1e-e36b0b7a9522
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