You have to feel sorry for the North Queensland Cowboys. Their 26-21 loss to the Manly Sea Eagles in Gosford last night should not have occurred.
I have defended on field officials and I still stand by that. They have a tough job to do and are asked to make decisions instantly. Sometimes they will get it right, other times they will get it wrong. Over the course of a season it all evens out.
When the video referee make a terrible decision, that is an entirely different matter.
Video referees get paid a good amount of money to do their job. When they get a decision as wrong as they did last night on the obstruction call that allowed the Sea Eagles to pull themselves back into the game, they should be fired.
Not stood down, not given a rest. Fired. Gone for good.
There is no excuse when you are sitting in a box surrounded by all of the camera angles you need, having multiple replays and all the time you want to make a decision.
The obstruction call wasn’t even close. It wasn’t a 50/50 call. It needed one replay to work out that the Cowboys defender was obstructed. It was a no brainer!
The North Queensland Cowboys are used to being screwed over by the referees. These major stuff ups are costing them dearly.
The NRL can not allow this one to be put down to a simple error of judgement. This was a colossal mistake. The video referee at fault should be fired.
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