The ugly 'referee shove' that everybody missed
NRL fans have been left perplexed after Rabbitohs five-eighth Cody Walker escaped a charge despite making contact with the referee.
Late in the Rabbitohs’ nail-biting one-point victory over the Dragons on Saturday night, Walker pushed Dragons back-rower Tyson Frizell, while referee Gerard Sutton stood between the pair.
Walker clearly wasn’t intending to touch Sutton, however he clearly did make significant contact with the whistleblower.
Considering the NRL’s strict crackdown on referee contact in 2016, many fans were confused at how the Rabbitohs star escaped any further scrutiny.
Nothing on Cody Walker (I think it was) and contact on referee Gerry Sutton? At one point he lashed out at a Dragons player and decided to do it while the ref was standing between them. Ended up making contact with Sutton too.
— Jake Michael Thompson (@JMThompson95) September 16, 2018
I would like the @NRL to come down hard on Cody Walker. Putting a referee in danger is poor.
I know he didn’t intend for that but it’s careless.
I wouldn’t of mind if Gerard sent him off. #NRLSouthsDragons #NRLFinals
— Scott Foreman (@Scott_Foreman97) September 15, 2018
I hope Cody Walker is suspended for pushing the ref. He should have been sent off #NRLSouthsDragons
— Behindthegreendoor (@behindthegreen9) September 15, 2018
Is it just me or should Cody Walker have been given his marching orders for making contact with the referee? #noton #NRLRabbitohsDragons
— The Wizard Of Oz (@realauswizard) September 15, 2018
Cody Walker will be in trouble for that contact with the referee. If the rules of past seasons come in to play, that is #NRLSouthsDragons #NRLFinals #nrl
— 24 Sep 1989 (@Raiders_24Sep89) September 15, 2018
Interestingly, the man Walker was attempting to push, Frizell, was the player at the centre of the 2016 ref contact debacle, after he was suspended for the lightest of touches on referee Chris James.
Frizell was forced to serve a one-match suspension, for contact the judiciary prosecutor, Peter McGrath, labelled as “avoidable and unnecessary”.
“He had that special duty all players do to avoid contact with the referee, and he had plenty of time to do that,” McGrath said in 2016.
“The contact was avoidable and unnecessary.”
The NRL has clearly softened its stance on ref contact since the controversy of the 2016 crackdown.
