Bunker controversies, Graham Annesley explanation, why can’t the Bunker rule on forward passes?, obstruction penalties, high tackle crack down

Eamonn Tiernan is the NRL Editor at foxsports.com.au and he writes Extra Time fortnightly.

It’s time to talk about the Bunker.

There’s no way to sugarcoat it – the expensive officiating centre based in a leafy inner-city Sydney suburb has been a blight on the 2023 season.

It was introduced to eliminate the howler, but we’re now at a point where the Bunker creates more questions than answers on a weekly basis.

Foxsports.com.au spoke with the NRL head of football competitions Graham Annesley to try and get to the bottom of why Bunker blunders are becoming more prevalent.

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The former Titans chief executive couldn’t guarantee all his referees would be spared the axe this weekend following another forgettable round from the officials.

It’s the business end of the season and fans are becoming incensed with the inconsistent calls coming out of the Bunker each week.

Back in April, Annesley publicly invited the media to come sit inside the Bunker for a game to better understand how it operates. Foxsports.com.au took him up on the offer but has been getting stonewalled by the NRL for months.

In an extensive Q&A with Annesley, foxsports.com.au dived into a series of hot topics and found out if his open door offer was still on the table in the wake of a series of Bunker controversies.

Tiernan: Graham, why do you think the Bunker has been at the centre of so much controversy this season?

Annesley: Well, because like referees on the field the Bunker has to make decisions and depending upon which team you support sometimes you like those decisions and sometimes you don’t. But of course sometimes they do make errors, as players do.

Tiernan: We saw two send offs in Round 23 after none since Round 2. You’re adamant there is no crackdown happening – were they both those high tackles send offs in your eyes?

Annesley: I think they were probably a little bit out of kilter with other decisions that we’ve seen taken this year for similar types of tackles. However, the referee has to make a judgement call based on the seriousness of the incident that they look at and that’s always been the right of the referee on the field to make that assessment. The best way to avoid these controversies is for the incidents not to happen.

Tiernan: What is wrong with a crackdown? The NRL seems very keen to distance itself from the word?

Annesley: We’re not keen to distance ourselves from it, it just simply didn’t happen, it’s as simple as that. Call me a liar if you want to but there was no crackdown.

Tiernan: You said the same thing about hip-drops, but we rarely see hip-drops now so doesn’t that show that crackdowns do work?

Annesley: If there’s going to be a crackdown, everyone will know about it. There was no instruction given to referees differently last week than there was in previous weeks, but they go out and see things and make decisions – that’s their job.

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Tiernan: Has there been any more recent emphasis around protecting the head?

Annesley: It’s been an ongoing campaign and I’m sure one that most people, with reasonable positions, applaud that we’re doing everything we can to try and make the game as safe as possible. It doesn’t ebb and flow from one week to the next, maybe the actions from the players and the responses from the referees might ebb and flow a little from week to week, but the game’s approach to these tackles has remained solid since day one.

Tiernan: Is the NRL worried about a class action from former players like in the AFL and NFL?

Annesley: That’s not my job. My job is to try and make sure we’ve got policies in place to make the game as safe as possible, what happens beyond that is out of my control.

Tiernan: Do you think there has been drama with the Bunker because it’s looking for perfection in an imperfect game?

Annesley: I think they’re trying to make correct decisions but they’re under pressure like everybody else, they’re making decisions in a very short time frame with two-dimensional pictures that they have to interpret and sometimes their judgement is not 100 per cent. You can have the best technology in the world but you still have someone sitting in judgement of those pictures they’re looking at.

Tiernan: So is this ‘consistency’ that everyone wants an unrealistic goal by virtue of the fact it’s people making these decisions and everybody is susceptible to human error?

Annesley: I think consistency is an often overused word because for something to be truly consistent the incidents that officials are ruling on have to be exactly the same and no two incidents are ever exactly the same, so consistency is always in the eye of the beholder.

Tiernan: How many people are in the Bunker helping the nominated official make the final decision?

Annesley: There’s two (helping), there’s a videotape operator and there’s an observer who tries to make sure incidents are being looked at in the background while the other is concentrating on the live play.

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Tiernan: Is it a fair criticism to say the Bunker has been guilty of going looking for things this season? For example when there’s a break in play with a player down?

Annesley: No. The only thing the Bunker can identify is when the rules have been breached, so you can look as hard as you like but if there’s been no breach of the rules then there will be nothing to find.

Tiernan: I suppose the only exception to that is the forward pass. Why can’t the Bunker rule on a forward pass?

Annesley: It’s massively subjective in a two-dimensional picture that distorts if the camera is not directly in line with it. Also the rule itself is all about how the ball leaves the passer’s hand rather than the path that it travels across the ground, so a ball can be forward but thrown correctly and float forward and still be a legal pass.

Tiernan: You admitted the Dolphins scrum penalty, blown with the game on the line on Sunday, was very harsh as it didn’t impact the game despite being correct by the letter of the law. Are refs trained to let the game flow and use a bit of common sense with decisions like that?

Annesley: Normally they will make decisions that they think are necessary to ensure the game maintains its flows but does so in a way where there’s a reasonable standard of compliance with the rules. But again, these are judgement calls that they have to make, that’s their job and they make them and people will agree or disagree with them. That (Dolphins) one in particular, I disagreed with that call.

Tiernan: There are these judgement calls, as you say, because it’s hard to officiate in black and white – but the one thing that seems to be officiated in black and white is the obstruction rule with lead runners. There’s a lot of tries disallowed when it’s pretty obvious the defender is not going to get there. Is there scope for a bit more common sense to be applied there?

Annesley: We’ve tried all sorts of different policies over the years in relation to obstruction and I think it’s fair to say based on the feedback we get from coaches every year that they find the current guidelines to be the most specific in relation to what is and what isn’t an obstruction. Again though, you can have guidelines in place but someone still has to look at the video and make an objective decision about that and people will agree and people will disagree.

Tiernan: Dragons interim coach Ryan Carr was pretty fired up in his post-match press conference on the weekend and suggested referees should have to do post-match press conferences. What do you think about that?

Annesley: No. Referees are out there doing their best and they are held accountable through the concessions that we make on Mondays, the appointments they receive, whether they retain their position or whether they get dropped, that’s how they’re made accountable.

Tiernan: Have any referees been dropped this week as a result of their performance in Round 23?

Annesley: Well the appointments for next week haven’t been completed yet, referees have been dropped at various points throughout the season. We haven’t done the Round 24 appointments yet, it’s only Monday night.

Tiernan: Do you think players are showing refs enough respect at the moment? Jack Wighton, Reece Walsh and Josh Reynolds have all recently been charged with dissent. Do you think officials have the respect of the players?

Annesley: Well I think they should always show respect just as the referee should return that respect. It’s a high pressure environment, players are under pressure, referees are under pressure but there’s no excuse for players overstepping the mark when it comes to respecting someone who’s out there trying to do their job for the benefit of all players on the field.

Tiernan: The Tigers, Dragons and Dolphins all copped tough calls on the weekend in games that were decided by six points or less. Can you understand why fans are frustrated?

Annesley: I spent five years at a club so of course I understand and of course we want them to get them all right but as you’ve already mentioned, it’s an imperfect game and there are errors that will be made.

Tiernan: I spoke to you back in April after you said journalists were welcome to come inside the Bunker to write a behind-the-scenes piece, is that offer still on the table?

Annesley: Yeah it is but you’ll have to go through (NRL media) to organise that.

Tiernan: I’ve been trying to but have been met with a fair bit of silence on that front.

Annesley: I’ll mention it to them again.

Tiernan: Thanks for your time, Graham.

Credit to Annesley for fronting up and answering the tough questions, he has a challenging job but at least he’s facing the music amid the fans’ frustration.

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