Position vacant: NRL commentator who knows rules

Having someone commentating on NRL games who actually knows what they are talking about when a contentious refereeing decision has been made could be the breath of fresh air the NRL needs right now.

In pretty much every NRL game, the commentators will blow up about a refereeing decision.

People who know a lot – but not everything – go off their rocker about a call that they don’t agree with, regardless of whether they are right or not.

And before we know it, the rest of the call is swallowed up by the guys not being able to get past what has been denied or given the green light.

Instead of them leading us down the rabbit hole like Alice in Wonderland, taking us far, far away from logic – and more importantly the game that we are trying to watch – why not have someone in the box holding their hands and explaining the rules?

Why can’t we have an official with them to quash any ridiculous arguments? Or agree that the decision is incorrect but explain it in a much more professional way? It could stop so many foolish debates taking over the entire dialogue of the game.

It could be a former official or a current one from the lower grades – someone who actually knows the rules and can give valuable insight without emotion.

There have been so many times when commentators have gotten their knickers in a knot over a call and spent the rest of the game analysing and dissecting it. It would be great to have someone from the other side of the fence actually sitting with them to enable the discussion to remain respectable, informative, and actually help us understand how and why the officials looking after the game came to that ruling.

In the US, a feature of NBA broadcasts is former referee Steve Javie being available for comment during the games and ex-referee Bill Harrigan was once a regular in the Triple M footy commentary box.

Love him or hate him, he knows what he is talking about when it comes to the rule book.

Whenever the likes of Ryan Girdler, Dan Ginnane or Wendell Sailor would blow up about a call, he would be the voice of reason and explain exactly why it was the right decision.

No sentiment, no favouritism, no theatrics. Just the rules.

He clarified many times on air why a call was correct, including the decision in the 2019 grand final to give the Roosters the ball back in their half after Raider Sia Soliola charged down a kick that bounced into a Roosters trainer.

“Territorial advantage. It’s unfortunate for the Raiders, but that’s the rule,” Harrigan explained.

And it would give an important and impressive layer to the overall commentary. The callers would learn something, as well as us listeners, and it would end the chance of what would undoubtably be an incorrect argument spiral out of control and overtake the rest of the game.

Remember last year’s ‘Downtown’ fiasco during the Souths/Panthers game? Rabbitohs forward Mark Nicholls was penalised for being in front of the play the ball before the fifth tackle kick was made. Stephen Crichton caught the ball and Nicholls was in trouble for what happened before the kick.

So many of us lost our marbles, and of course Channel Nine commentator Phil Gould was one of them.

“Mate, don’t start me!” he exclaimed. “By the letter of the law, maybe. But you see that happen a thousand times. Crichton will run 20 metres with the ball, he’s way outside 10 metres.

“I think it’s a really technical penalty at that stage of the game that really didn’t need to be blown, but the bunker interfered. Eye in the sky, got ya. Like a highway patrol with a speed gun. It was an unnecessary technical penalty. Unnecessary for the penalty to be blown.”

Referee Grant Atkins explained the ruling to Adam Reynolds, who was the Bunnies captain at the time.

“Mark Nicholls is downtown from the kick, and he can’t play an active part in the play,” he
said. “He can’t take part in the play. Mark Nicholls has advanced downfield before the ball is kicked past him.

“We call downtown all the time but if he ends up playing a role in the play – which he did – that’s bad luck. He might as well wait downfield, that’s the law of the game, you’ve got to accept it.”

Now, if there was someone sitting next to Gus telling him that, he may have calmed down a lot quicker. May have.

It may help the rest of us calm down a lot quicker too and accept the ruling was correct. It’s OK if there are follow-up conversations about the rule being silly, but at least we can give the referee-bashing a break knowing they actually made the right call.