Finch confirms senior refs in control
NRL referees boss Robert Finch says this week's decision to give senior referees more control in games than their junior counterparts is nothing new.
Finch confirmed six of this week's games will involve a senior referee controlling most of the game,
"The senior referee will do a bit more than the junior referee," he said on Thursday.
"The junior referee now (controls) eight sets a game so he may only do four sets a game (this week). It'll just be more involvement of the senior referee."
However Finch said they have made similar decisions in the past under the two-referee system but they don't normally "go out and advertise it".
Wests Tigers coach Tim Sheens first heard of the news when it was raised by journalists at a press conference on Thursday and said he would have liked to have been officially notified of it.
However he seemed to warm to any change of current system, saying "I'm not a fan of the two referees and have said so right from the start".
The decision was also welcomed by several NRL players including Wests Tigers captain Robbie Farah who said when junior referees are given too much control, they often become overwhelmed.
"Sometimes with the junior referees coming up, having full control of the game with the inexperience that they've got, it can be a bit much and that's where you've seen some of the problems," he said.
Warriors captain Michael Luck went further and said he would favour a return to the old system of one referee.
"Then you've only got to listen to one guy and you get one interpretation of every rule. At the moment there's voices coming from everywhere and you're looking to please two refs instead of just one," Luck said.
But Finch quashed suggestions that the two-referee system, which was introduced 18 months, was being phased out.
"The bottom line is it is here to stay as far as we're concerned," he said.
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