NRL's response to Shane Flanagan ref spray questioned as 'precedent' singled out

Yahoo

6 days ago

Rugby League great Greg Alexander has questioned why the NRL has decided not to fine Shane Flanagan for his blow-up at officials after the Dragons' 20-18 loss to Canterbury last weekend. An enraged Flanagan singled out a couple of refereeing decisions that he said were 'wrong' and potentially cost his side a chance to play finals footy this season.
The Dragons coach took aim at two controversial calls during the final minutes of the two-point defeat. He accused Jacob Kiraz of planting the ball before he got to his feet and described the ensuing penalty against Luciano Leilua for ruck interference as 'outrageous'.
The Dragons coach also claimed that Viliame Kikau knocked the ball forward into Tyrell Sloan when attempting a bat-on pass moments later, and was furious that the Dogs were allowed to play on. It proved costly as Lachlan Galvin set up the match-winning try with a superb cut-out ball to Jethro Rinakama that denied the Dragons a win and left them six points out of finals contention with just seven games left to play.
"The Luciano Leilua decision was outrageous," Flanagan fumed in his post-match press conference. "He's got to get to his feet before he plants the ball. You can't be falling sideways. You can't ball-plant... but tonight we ball-planted and we lost the game because of it."
And about the decision not to pull up Kikau for a knock-on, he added: "Kikau passes the ball, hit Sloan and goes forward, so in the collision that's a knock-on. Ever since 100 years, that's a knock-on and that was at the 78-minute mark... They're a good side the Bulldogs, they compete hard, but it was some decisions tonight that cost us two competition points and could cost us an opportunity to play semi-finals."
NRL backs officials, decides not to fine Shane Flanagan
However, the NRL backed their officials over both calls, citing footage that showed Leilua denied Kiraz an opportunity to play the ball correctly by grabbing the winger's arm before his foot dislodged the ball. The NRL also ruled there was insufficient evidence to prove that Kikau knocked the ball forward into Sloan.
Both were viewed as 50/50 calls that could have gone either way and it's for that very reason that Alexander believes Flanagan wasn't fined for his outburst. The Penrith great pointed out that the NRL announced a blanket ban on coaches questioning refereeing decisions at the start of the year and suggested league bosses erred on their tough stance by not fining Flanagan.
'The precedent had been set and there was a directive from the NRL that you can't question decisions,' Alexander said on SEN 1170 Breakfast. 'I thought Flanagan was in control of what he was saying. He didn't lose it but there's no doubt he was questioning the decision.
'He even said the decisions were outrageous. The NRL are hedging their bets. Normally, they would've fined a coach and they have fined coaches this year for questioning referee decisions." But Alexander insists coaches 'should be allowed to' air their grievances in the manner Flanagan did, without being sanctioned.
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'(The NRL made the decision) not to fine him because it was a 50/50 call and it could've easily gone the way of the Dragons," he added. "Is that off-putting to some? Why can't a coach say that? As long as a coach handles themselves in the way that Shane Flanagan did. He wasn't saying that they'd been robbed. He said it in a matter which I believe coaches should be allowed to do.'
However, the situation appears to fly in the face of what NRL head of football operations Graham Annesley said earlier in the year, when clarifying what coaches are not allowed to say about the referees. "They can't make derogatory comments about match officials, they can't attack their performance or integrity," he told Wide World of Sports. "They can't do anything that brings into question the integrity or the performance of the referee but they can disagree with individual decisions."