‘This is not a ridiculous decision’: NRL backs Bunker call but admits officials need to make one major adjustment

NRL head of football Graham Annesley says Bunker official Kasey Badger followed the correct policy when she supported a controversial no try ruling on the weekend, but he concedes her wording could have been better as she explained the process.

The drama started when Dragons forward Dan Russell was originally ruled to be held up as he tried to ground a deflected grubber in his side’s 24-18 loss to Manly.

Replays weren’t overly conclusive but it did look like a part of the ball was grounded over the line, with Dragons players celebrating when they saw it on the big screen.

Because it was sent upstairs as a no try, there needed to be sufficient evidence to overturn the live decision.

What made it more confusing was that Badger said that the ball was grounded and then later said the ball was on the line, yet she didn’t overturn the call.

“There was some confusion created with the audio that went to air, and I’m the first to admit that because she talks on two separate occasions in the on air audio about being able to see the ball on the ground and then being able to see the player over the line,” Annesley explained.

“She was trying to determine whether the ball was on the ground before the line or whether it was on the ground over the line, in which case it would have been a try and there would have been sufficient evidence to overturn the on-field decision.

“She couldn’t see a particular frame where she could be sure the player in the in-goal area with the ball on the ground before he was held up.

“I can understand people saying the odds are that he got the ball down over the line, but the Bunker can’t work on guesswork.

“The on field decision has been made by the referee, and that can only be overturned if the Bunker has sufficient evidence to indicate that the ball was on the ground over the try line.

“This is not about officials getting it wrong. This is about officials following policy.

“We can disagree with the policy and believe that the policy is wrong and should be changed, but that’s a very different matter to whether the officials have followed the policy and whether they’ve done anything wrong, which they haven’t.”

There have been suggestions that referees shouldn’t give an opinion when they send decisions upstairs, however Annesley says the NRL won’t be going back to old policy.

“The referees can’t walk away from their responsibility of making a decision or having an opinion,” he said.

“As will happen from time to time, video evidence won’t be sufficient to clarify the position, so you still have to have an outcome.

“There are only two options – one is that you go with the decision that the referee made on the field, or you get the Bunker to guess… and that would be even more unsatisfactory.”

Annesley has mentioned several times this year that Bunker officials have to be more careful with how they explain decisions to the public, but pointed out that not everything they say goes to air.

“I can understand coaches getting upset about it, but we have to be measured about how we respond to these things,” he said.

“This is not a ridiculous decision. This is a referee following policy.

“I think the wording did add to some of the emotion around this decision because what you can hear when you hear the full audio is that she was going through a process.

“Having decided that the ball was on the ground, she was then trying to determine when it was on the ground before or after the line.

“When they’re cutting in and out to give some public information, you only get those snippets.

“They do have to be mindful of what they say because it can cause some confusion, particularly when you’re only getting parts of it as they decide to turn their microphone on.”