Source : the age
Top referee Ashley Klein has been dumped for failing to award an escort penalty in the final minute of Sunday’s Eden Park epic.
The NRL conceded the New Zealand Warriors should have been awarded a penalty – and the chance to send their game against Newcastle into extra point – when Tyson Frizell escorted Leka Halasima off the ball.
The Warriors contacted the NRL on Monday morning to discuss a number of contentious calls in their 12-10 loss to Newcastle, particularly why Frizell was not punished for blocking the path of a leaping Halasima.
Ironically, the non-call on Frizell came after the NRL last week sent out a reminder to clubs still in the finals race that referees would clamp down on escorts after the Dolphins accused the Warriors of getting away with the same tactic in week one of the finals.
Klein did not penalise Frizell on Sunday, and the Warriors had already used their captain’s challenge, which meant they could not ask for the play to be reviewed by the bunker.
Klein will not be selected to officiate either of the two preliminary finals this weekend.
Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed Klein remained in contention to be the man in the middle for Sunday week’s grand final, but he will not feature this weekend.
Adam Gee refereed the Roosters-Sharks semi-final on Saturday night, while Gerard Sutton and Grant Atkins, last year’s grand final referee, will be in contention for this weekend’s preliminary finals.
Warriors chief executive Cameron George confirmed he wanted an explanation from the NRL, saying on Monday: “It was disappointing because a warning was sent out to the clubs about [escorts] this week; it was extremely obvious that’s what occurred with [Frizell].
“Then to have no review or anything done by the referee, it was disappointing. We have to move on.”
The bunker had minutes earlier ruled that centre Ali Leiataua had got a thumb to an intercept attempt, and Te Maire Martin was controversially ruled to have stripped the ball from Greg Marzhew in a tackle with more than one defender involved.
As Warriors coach Andrew Webster said after the gut-wrenching loss: “I thought they were trying to find ways to take it off us.”
The same sources, however, confirmed the NRL was satisfied with both those bunker calls.
The Frizell blunder ignited the debate about the bunker and what role technology should play in the NRL. It was only a couple of weeks ago South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett wanted it scrapped completely, given those operating the multimillion-dollar technology are not immune from human error.
Fan frustration spilled over after the game with a handful of spectators throwing bottles in the direction of Klein.
NRL investigators have already started analysing TV footage to identify the culprits.
“We had close to 49,000 fans, which meant we broke a record, and while I know we can all get frustrated, that behaviour is unacceptable and poor,” George said.
“I know the stadium and the NRL are looking at it. Whatever action they take, we will support.”
ARL Commission chairman Peter V’landys added: “We began an investigation immediately on breaches of the NRL spectators’ code of conduct.
“We had an investigator from the integrity unit at the actual game. If those fans are found guilty, they will be banned for a period of time.
“It was a shame because the actual day was brilliant. I was there, and the atmosphere was so good.
“There will be no issues about Eden Park holding an Origin game there next year because of the actions of a few fans. Most of the fans were well-behaved all afternoon – we won’t punish 99.9 per cent of them because of the 0.1 per cent.”
Such was the success of the Eden Park clash, V’landys said he was open to taking more events to Auckland, and pointed out there had been more than 80,000 fans sign up for ticketing information for the State of Origin scheduled for the venue in June.
The Warriors were granted their wish to remain at Go Media Stadium for week one of the finals, but nearly double the number of fans attended the semi-final at Eden Park. The NRL collects the gate takings for all finals games.
