NRL boss Todd Greenberg is expected to swing the axe following Friday night’s horrific display during Cronulla’s clash with Canberra.
The Raiders’ hopes of making the NRL finals were crushed after two controversial decisions were made by the referees and the bunker.
Number one referee Gerard Sutton and touch judge Rick McFarlane now find themselves in the gun after Greenberg stepped in to deal with the crisis.
“We should be getting those decisions right, they impact games, they impact livelihoods. We have got to get better,” Greenberg said.
“The competition is close, margins are close … it means every decision matters.
“You can take it as read that tomorrow’s appointments will reflect some of that disappointment. There has to be accountability, that’s across the board, including me. You can expect there will be accountability taken tomorrow.”
Greenberg’s position puts referee boss Bernard Sutton in a slightly awkward spot as he could be forced to deliver the bad news to his brother.
An apology from Bernard Sutton was delivered to Raiders coach Ricky Sutton following the game, but it would have done little to liven up the coach’s mood.
As the controversial calls continue to mount throughout the season, players and coaches have jumped behind a radical proposal to implement the captain’s challenge.
Boyd Cordner and Kevin Walters have thrown their support behind Nathan Brown’s proposal to re-trial the captain’s challenge, but the trio shouldn’t hold their breath with a return this year highly unlikely.
Previously tested in under-20s, the challenge method has only been used once in an final-round NRL match between St George Illawarra and Newcastle in 2016.
Knights coach Brown offered to trial it against North Queensland on Friday night with Cowboys coach Paul Green also open to the idea, but there appears no chance it would be implemented in time.
And while it’s prompted calls for the bunker to be scrapped following a fortnight of dramas, NSW captain Cordner said the challenge system would be a better process for it.
“I believe there is still a place for the bunker, it’s just if we can find a simpler way to get the decision would be nice,” Cordner said at Fox League’s retro round launch.
“If that means having the captain’s challenge, I wouldn’t mind it.
“There is some stuff you just instinctively feel is right and if we can get that opportunity it would be good.”
For the system to be tested, it’s likely it would have to be passed through the competition committee which doesn’t meet again until next month.
It’s also understood it’s previously been discussed by that committee and another filled of NRL coaches, and the general consensus has been against it’s use.
Opponents of the system pointed to the fact under-20s captains used in-play challenges as a ploy to slow down the momentum of the game when their side needed to.
However the fact the system was limited only to try-scoring plays when used in the NRL largely addressed that.
There are also fears it could still fail to rule out the howlers, given teams are only given one incorrect challenge per half before an additional one is awarded in the final five minutes and golden point.
Sharks five-eighth Matt Moylan — himself a captain at Penrith last year — worried on Monday the system would only further complicate matters. “It’s just another way to mess with the game,” Moylan said.
“There’s already so much scrutiny on decisions and I guess it could have a negative effect, it could be positive. I don’t know.” But Walters said something had to change from the current bunker system. “It’s taking too much away from the referees and their decision making,” he told Sky Sports Radio.
“The (captain’s challenge) can work. Because generally players know whether they’ve scored on not.” The player at the centre of the drama, Cronulla winger Sione Katoa, said he didn’t see the flag raised on Friday.
— with AAP
