NRL head of football Graham Annesley says the league is wary of technology potentially bringing fresh issues to the table, following the Reece Walsh forward pass controversy at the weekend.
League great Paul Gallen has led calls for veteran referee Gerard Sutton to be axed for Sunday's grand final after he missed a blatant forward pass from the Broncos fullback which led directly to a try in the preliminary final against the Warriors.
While the Broncos ran out with an emphatic 42-12 win at Suncorp Stadium, the missed forward pass, which led to a try for Jordan Riki in the 54th minute was called the moment that "really broke the Warriors" by NRL legend Cameron Smith.
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Annesley said there was "no question" Walsh's pass was forward, but explained how bringing in more technology could come with more problems for the NRL.
"It's up for discussion," he said of the prospect of more technology being introduced.
"There may well be a way of coming up with a process. We haven't discussed this internally at all. It will be a part of the end of season review, as will any aspect of our game that is controversial.
"Forward passes are something that comes up regularly, but we've looked at various technologies and we're not comfortable that those technologies will necessarily solve the problem or won't perhaps even give us other problems by calling up passes that don't look forward, but the technology says they are. All of these things have to be balanced.
"We don't go through every game looking specifically for forward passes, it's mostly the ones that cause the most public comment, the controversial ones usually leading to points.
"I watch every game every week, and there are passes where I think, 'Something doesn't look right about that'. There are some challenges around it, but it's not something that can't be resolved.
"If we can stop those sorts of clangers that get missed and it is quite obvious, then let's have a look at whether that's feasible to do. But there are others where it's not possible because you look at different camera angles and they give you different perspectives."
One moment where different angles offered different perspectives also occurred in the play which led to Riki's try.
Walsh laid the ball off to teammate Selwyn Cobbo, whose own pass back inside looked to be borderline forward as well.
"We did look at it this morning, but there's a lot more doubt about that one," Annesley said of the Cobbo pass.
"It looks a lot worse when a player gets hit in a tackle. It's much, much more difficult to say that's a forward pass."
It remains to be seen whether the missed call will cost Sutton a spot in Sunday's grand final between the Panthers and Broncos, with the officials for the season finale yet to be named.
Adam Gee, who officiated the other preliminary final between the Panthers and Storm, is likely to take charge in the grand final if Sutton is not given the nod. Sutton has previously refereed in seven NRL grand finals.
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