The National Rugby League is planning a "radical move that could see up to 10 officials controlling games as early as round one" of the '15 season, according to Michael Carayannis of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The move will be "tested for the first time at the annual Charity Shield clash between South Sydney and St George Illawarra on Saturday, where two referees will be joined by four sideline officials, two video referees and the return of two in-goal touch judges." If successful, the extra officials "could be in use from round one, according to referees' boss Tony Archer." Archer: "At this stage we're only looking at it as an experiment. We have to see what is the best system. For us, it's about looking to be the most accurate decision-makers we can be and to get as many decisions right." Archer said that the in-goal touch judges "would help improve the accuracy of the on-field referees' decisions," following the move for them to indicate if they believe a try has been scored "before sending the decision to the video referee." Archer: "Now we've moved to a live decision, we want the referee to make a more informed and accurate live decision" (SMH, 2/5). In Sydney, Paul Crawley reported former player Matthew Johns, now a commentator, was "adamant the demise of the video ref was the way forward for rugby league." Johns: "The
thing that I'm excited about is that Tony Archer is making baby steps
towards I believe removing the video referee from rugby league." Asked if fans and clubs would "accept the occasional mistake that the
video ref could potentially avoid in critical games," Johns added, "Hopefully one day it can be a game with no video referees, hardly any
stoppages and six interchanges" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 2/6).
RUMORS FLY: In Sydney, Brad Walter reported sacked NRL Head of Commercial Paul Kind "does not face any police charges over the allegations that led to the shock dismissal of the league's longest serving official on Wednesday." The manner of Kind's axing has sent the rugby league rumor mill "into overdrive" but the reasons for his sacking reportedly "do not involve any illegality and he has not benefited financially from his actions." NRL CEO Dave Smith made the decision after consulting with ARL Commission Chair John Grant about an "internal investigation that determined Kind had breached the code of conduct for NRL administration staff and was guilty of a 'direct conflict of interest.'" The way in which Kind was "frogmarched from League Central and the wording of an internal email sent to staff minutes later sent shockwaves through NRL headquarters and around the game" (SMH, 2/5).
FRIDAY NIGHT RUGBY: The PA reported Friday night rugby is "here to stay" after the fixtures for the '16 and '17 Six Nations were announced. The '15 tournament kicks off on Friday when Wales hosts England and the Millennium Stadium will "again play host to Friday night rugby in the next two tournaments" (PA, 2/5).
