{"id":135240,"date":"2021-09-27T07:44:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-27T07:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=135240"},"modified":"2021-09-27T08:58:02","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T08:58:02","slug":"nrl-admits-top-ref-failed-at-crucial-moment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=135240","title":{"rendered":"NRL admits top ref 'failed' at crucial moment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NRL<\/a> has conceded a "failure of process" led to a dumfounding error which could have helped decide Saturday's preliminary final between Penrith<\/a> and Melbourne<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Eagle-eyed viewers noticed Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary took a conversion attempt several metres infield from where his teammate Brian To'o had scored a try during the 10-6 win over the Storm which booked a grand final berth against South Sydney<\/a> this week.<\/p>\n

Luckily, Cleary missed the kick anyway and it didn't end up factoring in the result.<\/p>\n

But NRL's head of football, Graham Annesley today told media the mistake simply wasn't good enough from referee Gerard Sutton and his touchline officials.<\/p>\n

Annesley assured media and fans the same error will not happen in Sunday's premiership decider.<\/p>\n

\"Sterlo's<\/p>\n

"The try was scored in the corner, maybe a metre in from touch, and the conversion attempt was taken from seven or eight metres in from touch," Annesley said.<\/p>\n

"It was a miss by the on-field officials in that Cleary had not been lined up correctly by the match officials. It was a failure of process more than anything else, so the referees did not follow a process that means the kick being taken from the right position.<\/p>\n

"The one thing I can absolutely assure you of is that process has been rectified today, and we won't see a reoccurrence of that type of incident in the grand final.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Benji Marshall sets incredible grand final record<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Aussie UFC champ's response to Conor McGregor's sledge<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Key England cricketer retires ahead of Ashes series<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

"This is a process driven matter, there is a specific process that needs to kick in when a try's been scored, involving the touch judge, involving the referee, where they make absolutely certain a conversion attempt is taken from the right spot.<\/p>\n

"That process failed, and it shouldn't have failed, and it won't fail again in the grand final. Thankfully it played no part in the outcome of the game."<\/p>\n

\"To'o<\/p>\n

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age have reported the baffling mistake could have a bearing on which officials get selected<\/a> to take control of Sunday's grand final.<\/p>\n

The main referee role will be between Sutton or Ashley Klein, who officiated Friday night's preliminary final between South Sydney and Manly.<\/p>\n

The NRL will unveil its grand final referees on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Annesley wouldn't speculate as to whether the error will cost Sutton the season decider.<\/p>\n

"I've made it absolutely clear the process needs to be enforced by the referees, that a touch judge needs to take up a position to indicate where a try has been scored, the referee needs to take that mark from the touch judge and take responsibility for lining the kicker up," he said.<\/p>\n

"That didn't happen in this case and it's been absolutely reinforced that process must be taken in all future kicks. The opportunity for that to repeat in the grand final won't exist.<\/p>\n

"It's something that hasn't had the necessary level of attention that it should have. It's a very important aspect of scoring in our game."<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The NRL has conceded a "failure of process" led to a dumfounding error which could have helped decide Saturday's preliminary final between Penrith and Melbourne. […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135240"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=135240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135242,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135240\/revisions\/135242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=135240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=135240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=135240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}