The establishment of a video referees bunker next season would enable the National Rugby League "to introduce a captain's challenge, announce judiciary charges at full-time, reduce interchanges and enhance the value of the broadcast rights, as well as helping match officials to make decisions faster and more accurately," according to Brad Walter of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. After an 11-match trial over the past three rounds, NRL Head of Football Todd Greenberg "is ready to recommend the league make a multi-million investment in a video referees bunker" similar to those used by all major U.S. sporting codes. Fairfax Media "was invited to sit in NRL's central command centre at ANZ Stadium on Monday night." While referee Jared Maxwell "did not seek a review of any of the Roosters' four tries, data from Sunday's Warriors-Knights match shows that it took the officials in the bunker an average of 20.3 seconds to rule on the six tries referred compared with an average of 58.5 seconds taken by the video referee at Mt Smart Stadium." Greenberg believes that the introduction of a central command center for video referees "will have other benefits for the game, including the possible introduction of a captain's challenge and the ability for the match review committee to announce charges at full-time." Greenberg said, "This is a game changer on so many different levels and there are other parts of the NRL business, particularly football, that will change also, so things like match review and the judiciary will change significantly with a real-time operation" (SMH, 6/2).
