Michael Burgess: To defend the referees of the NRL

Who would like to be a league referee?

After the events of recent days, probably a small group, slightly masochistic.

At the present time, as a work in Australasia, his popularity probably ranks somewhere between real estate agents, loan sharks and public relations for tobacco companies.

NRL referees are probably the hardest referees in the world

Rugby is difficult, but there are many more elements of interpretation. are generally more respectful than their counterparts in the league.

Football can also be difficult, but referees do not make decisions every five to ten seconds.

Cricket and netball have their own individual challenges in the league.

There is also no other sport where coaches, and players, are actively trying to push or break the rules of the game on such a regular basis.

Look at the Melbourne storm, held as a model for oth C's is perhaps the case, but Craig Bellamy's team has consistently pushed the boundaries over the years, from grappling to the # 39, chicken wing, going through the wrestling coaches up to the taking of the legs

get an illegal advantage, and the referees must somehow monitor that, without ruining the course of the game.

Most NRL referees make excellent decisions most of the time, but they are largely undervalued and underestimated.

Zero tolerance for errors, and apparently more room for human error.

Gerard Sutton is clearly an excellent referee, one of the best in the world, as evidenced by his work during the recent State of Origin series and the fact that he oversaw more 250 NRL games.

Suddenly, there is an uproar, especially from Warriors fans, with him being demoted to their clash with the Titans on Sunday

. It's a crazy thing.

Sutton is among the top five referees in the world, and will surely put

The question is, of course, much broader than some isolated errors.

As Stephen Kearney, the Warriors coach, alluded to last Sunday, one is worried about how the whistlers have been conducted over the last few weeks.

The NRL was caught between trying to produce the best possible entertainment product, and the reality of running a sport. These are the fuzzy lines.

It is the NRL that started the ridiculous separation edict by forcing the ball, and also encouraged referees to control the rule of obstruction in a different way, which has been the catalyst for the current malaise of defensive players. or initiate contact, to create confusion.

Since the beginning of this year, they have been asking officials to get on with the little things, before recently telling them to step on the pedal, in the interest of the product. And it's the NRL that has trusted the multi-million dollar "KFC" bunker, with 57 monitors and 20 kilometers of cable.

The bunker is well in theory, but its forensic approach has created much of the conflict.

The men in the bunker were unable to align what they see – in slow, triple-motion – with a good sense of the old game.

NRL experiment, as at the beginning of the season 2018: [19659002] 1. Ben Cummins – 305 results
2. Gavin Badger – 304
3. Matt Cecchin – 279
4. Gerard Sutton – 235
5. Alan Shortall – 218
6. Henry Perenara – 142
7. Gavin Reynolds – 129
8. Grant Atkins – 107
9. Adam Gee – 92
10. Dave Munro – 90