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Phil Gould in fiery Bunker rant after NRL addresses ‘farcical’ furore

The Bulldogs supremo has delivered a scathing slap-down on the officiating in the NRL.

Pictured right is Phil Gould and Bulldogs NRL star Reed Mahoney on the left.
Phil Gould has slammed the Bunker after a number of controversial incidents in round 12 of the NRL, including a hip-drop call against Reed Mahoney. Pic: Getty

Veteran rugby league commentator Phil Gould has unleashed on the Bunker and the officiating of the game after another round of controversy in the NRL. Perhaps the most perplexing incident was one involving Canterbury's Reed Mahoney, who was controversially put on report for a hip-drop tackle described as "farcical" by many fans.

The NRL's head of football Graham Annesley addressed the furore in his weekly press conference on Monday and said he was "extremely disappointed" it was penalised and put on report. It came just days after the NRL released a video to clubs explaining what constituted a hip-drop tackle, amid much ongoing confusion in the game.

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After reviewing Mahoney's tackle on Moe Fotuaika, the Bunker ruled that it constituted a hip-drop and was worthy of a penalty, sparking outcry from fans. Mahoney's tackle on Fotuaika was awkward because of the fact the Titans player's leg became trapped, but at no point did there seem a suggestion of malice of forceful pressure on Mahoney's part.

“Having reviewed this... we and the match review committee don’t believe this is a hip-drop tackle,” Annesley said at his weekly football briefing. “This is a tackle that does not fall into that category. It should have been a play the ball after this incident. It’s unusual what happens, but it’s not a hip-drop tackle and doesn’t fall into that category.

“The fact the ball-carrier’s leg gets caught between Mahoney’s legs is irrelevant. It’s unfortunate if there is an injury caused by that sort of thing, but it’s not because of any act of foul play. While we’re extremely disappointed that this was penalised for a hip-drop and then obviously cleared by the match review committee correctly... we’ll continue to work with the match review officials to get these right.”

Annesley also admitted the Bunker got a call wrong against Tigers forward Joe Ofahengaue on Saturday night, when he was denied a try in the 66-18 thrashing of the Cowboys. The lock was adjudged to have lost the ball before grounding it, despite no evidence to suggest that, prompting a furious spray from coach Tim Sheens.

Joe Ofahengaue was controversially denied a try for the Wests Tigers against North Queensland. Pic: Getty
Joe Ofahengaue was controversially denied a try for the Wests Tigers against North Queensland. Pic: Getty

A similar incident occurred when Penrith's Scott Sorensen had a try disallowed against the Broncos after the Bunker ruled the ball came loose before he grounded it over the line. NRL great Paul Gallen labelled it a "definite try" and a "poor decision" on Nine's 100% Footy on Monday night, sparking a furious spray from Gould on the state of officiating in the NRL as a whole.

Phil Gould unloads on NRL officials

"No one is in control, they've given the referees too much control of the game," he said. "The one thing that was advised to me 30 years ago by very smart people in this game, do not give referees control of the rule book, do not give referees control of video refereeing. He said at the time it would be a disaster in the game, it's been a disaster, it's been an absolute disaster... they get it wrong a lot."

Gould went on to claim that NRL officials were getting crucial calls wrong in "every game" and blamed much of the controversy on "nit-picking" by the Bunker. "They must have a giant magnifying glass in there sometimes to pick up stuff that no one could possibly see. It goes on every week, the nit-picking by the bunker to disallow a try, they want to find something that no one else can find, they want to find it and spoil the moment.

"It's ridiculous and it's ruining the game, and the problem with that is is our officials keep supporting it and saying you can't criticise it and saying they should be allowed to continue what they're doing, that's ruining the game as well."

Gould insisted the increased use of technology was "killing" the game and suggested the Bunker should just be used to adjudicate on the grounding of balls for tries. The Bulldogs supremo claimed the way the Bunker was being used and the directives being given to officials have caused a divide in the refereeing ranks.

"You'd have to simplify the whole lot, there's a whole lot there to unravel ... and the referees are extremely divided on this ... on how they're told to referee and the systems and processes they've got in place and also how half the referees stick to that when they know it's not right," he added. "Go and talk to the referees and retired referees about the process and everything that happens down there, they hate it."

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