League: Refereeing in stereo

Adding a second referee gives whistle-blowers like Tony Archer more certainty when making rulings like disallowing Illawarra Dragons' Ben Creagh's try against the Cronulla Sharks. Photo / Getty Images

The major concern with the introduction of the two-referee system for this season's NRL is that they will find more things wrong and blow more penalties.

Across the competition there was an average of 11 penalties per game last season. Pre-season trials such as the Warriors-Cowboys game threw up as many as 28.

The referees' boss, Robert Finch, is unconcerned about the pre-season spate of penalties.

"All the teams blood new players who are not as familiar with the systems and have trouble coping with the speed of the game. Everyone is rusty, there are positional mistakes and ball-handling errors," said Finch. "Penalty counts are always higher early in the season."

Finch is confident that the work done in pre-season will prepare the whistlers well for their changed role.

The league has expanded its list of full-time referees to 19, with Ashley Klein joining from Super League and eight brought through from the inaugural Toyota Cup under-20s competition and the New South Wales premier league.

There are three NRL debutants this weekend - Brett Suttor in the Dogs/Eagles game, Chris James in the Gold Coast/Knights clash and Gerard Suttor in the Tigers/Raiders contest. "We've always had quality referees coming through, I have no doubt they'll handle themselves well," said Finch.

"We've done an awful lot of work with it in the off-season and refined our techniques and responsibilities," he added.

"I'd be a fool to say it was not a work in progress and we do expect to do some tampering with it through the season as issues make themselves known but we expect that will be minute," the referees' coach said.

One referee is the "controller" who maintains the 10-metre gap at the play-the-ball and uses the whistle to make scrum, penalty and other calls.

The "pocket" referee moves behind the attacking team's backline and has responsibility to watch the completion of the tackle and subsequent play-the-ball. He advises the control referee by radio of any illegalities but cannot make decisions himself.

Finch thinks the extra attention on the tackle will help eliminate wrestling, grappling and "chicken wing" tactics where head, shoulders, legs or arms are pinned to slow the ball-carrier on the ground and allow defenders time to settle in their pattern.

"The referee will be in a better position to know what's going on, it should clear the tackled player better. Everyone wants to get rid of the grappling in the game and that's one of my objectives too."

Early on, the new referees will work with the experienced and may take a 90/10 or 80/20 percentage of the controlling responsibility. But whatever the percentage, both referees must "control" equal numbers of rucks for both sides, to maintain a consistency.

The extra eyes on the ruck will allow touch judges to provide the "control" referee with more help maintaining the 10 metres and they'll be better able to keep an eye on what happens in back play, including late hits on kickers.

Finch also wants the second referee right up with the play when tries are scored.

"In the trials there were times when tries were awarded when in the past it would have been sent to the video referee and I expect to see more of that through the season.

If we have two refs in position and a touch judge making a triangle around the try-scoring movement that third view has to aid the decision-making."

Improving the decision-making was the primary aim, the NRL aiming to bring referees' heart rates down from the high of 175 beats per minute that was normal with one whistler. Finch said monitoring showed they had hit highs of 150bpm but the average was far lower.

A few other law changes
* The tap restart will now be taken 10 metres in from touch rather than 20 metres. This brings the rule into line with that for internationals.
* If players rush to a scrum to force a "time-off" call, they will not then be allowed to retreat - they must be the players that pack down.
* Video referees will no longer adjudicate on stripped ball.
* Players who have carry-over demerit points from a judicial offence will have those points reduced by five per game for which they keep their nose clean.
* This is dubbed the "Cam Smith" rule, after he was eliminated from the 2008 Grand Final when his demerits pushed him to a one-game ban for a minor tackle offence.
* Defenders who attempt to stop tries by leading with their feet - a la Billy Slater - will be charged with misconduct.