[ad_1]
A furious Graham Annesley has slammed the comments of a Warriors sponsor and delivered a fierce message that he will not allow the integrity of match officials to be attacked.
And he’s not alone, with Professional Rugby League Match Officials boss Matt Cecchin confirming his organsation has spoken to lawyers about possible legal action against comments made by One NZ chief executive Jason Paris.
Annesley, the NRL’s head of football elite competitions, was careful to not refer to Paris by name, but it couldn’t have been clearer who the former NRL referee was referencing to when he staunchly defended the match officials who were in control of the Warriors’ 18-6 loss to the Panthers.
“I’ll be measured, as much as I can, I’m a bit hot under the collar over this stuff,” Annesley said during his weekly briefing on Monday when he was questioned on the comments made by Paris.
In the fallout from Saturday night’s match at Magic Round in Brisbane, Paris made a stinging attack on the match officials. One NZ are the naming rights sponsor for the Warriors.
Cameron Spencer/Getty Images
Warriors captain Tohu Harris speaks with referee Todd Smith moments before Demitric Sifakula is controversially sent to the sin bin against the Panthers.
By Monday, Paris had watered down his initial claims and admitted they were made “in the heat of the moment as a passionate fan”. But he doubled down on his allegations of an “unconscious bias” against the Warriors from NRL match officials.
Cecchin labelled Paris’ comments as appalling.
“Any sort of mention of the word bias, be it conscious or unconscious, is just unacceptable. It hurts our game at every level,” Cecchin told the Sydney Morning Herald.
“We feel strong enough to seek legal opinion and based on the information we’ll pursue whatever means necessary to ensure that it’s seen as a deterrent for anyone who thinks about making any such comments around bias.”
Annesley’s message to “some of the commentary around in the last 24 hours”, a phrase he used repeatedly to avoid referring to Paris by name, was to blame the players, not the officials.
“Don’t blame the officials, blame the players who enact these particular incidents,” Annesley said. “The officials respond to them, they don’t carry them out.”
SKY SPORT
Panthers pounce on wounded Warriors.
Annesley, who said “there is no comment that could be worse for the game” in reference to Paris’ words, came armed with evidence to defend the referees’ decisions, including a media report from 10 years ago and a swag of slow-motion replays and highlighted sections of the rules.
From the Warriors’ loss to the Panthers, he cited three incidents that he believed much of the commentary centred around and in each case argued why the match officials got their decisions right.
The incidents Annesley highlighted were the Jackson Ford sin bin for a hip drop, the Demitric Sifakula punch that result in a sin bin and the Warriors not being given a penalty for a high tackle on Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Hip drops have been a hot topic across the NRL all season, so far, with many commentators and players having said they struggle to answer the consistency.
In relation to the Watene-Zelezniak incident, Annesley fiercely defend the NRL bunker for its correct process but did not pass comment on how such an obvious on-field incident was missed.
Warriors head coach Andrew Webster said post-match Sifakula struck Nathan Cleary with an open hand but slow-motion replays showed it was a closed fist.
“Is it the hardest punch we’ve ever seen? No,” Annesley said. “But you cannot punch in the NRL,” Annesley said before producing a decade old media report to show how long punching had been unacceptable for in the NRL.
Annesley said there was always judgment or tight calls in every match and referees do make mistakes.
He admitted he was always going to stick up for the officials but also said he was open to making an admission when they were wrong.
“Their decision-making can be questioned but their integrity cannot be attacked and we won’t allow it to be attacked.
“We can question their decision-making, I’ve got no problem with that.”
NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo was also angry with the comments by Paris, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.
Annesley was unable to comment on the NRL investigation that was opened following Paris’ comments but did say he would sit down with representatives from the Warriors this week after the club contacted him for a meeting.
However, it is not uncommon for clubs to request such a meeting.
Paris agreed with Annesley that NRL referees were doing their best.
“However, I do believe that there is unconscious bias happening every week against the Warriors & and it needs to be addressed,” Paris said on Twitter. “All we want is consistency, but we are not getting it.”
[ad_2]