Heighington warming to two refs
Wests Tigers lock Chris Heighington is warming to the NRL's two-referee system after bizarre circumstances in Friday night's win over Penrith resulted in him being awarded a try.
Heighington was ruled to have scored the first try in the Tigers' 32-18 victory at Centrebet Stadium by video referee Paul Simpkins, but only after whistle-blower Phil Haines had pointed to the goal-line for a drop out.
Heighington, Tigers captain Robbie Farah and senior referee Ashley Klein all thought the No.13's grounding of a grubber deserved another look, and Haines changed his mind and referred the decision upstairs.
"I said, 'You better check it mate because I definitely got a hand to it'," Heighington told AAP.
"I don't think he was going to check it.
"I yelled at him a couple of times to have a look and I yelled at the other ref as well just to make sure they had a look to get it right."
The rare scenario was one Heighington had not experienced before and it has changed his view of the two-referee system introduced last year.
"I wasn't a massive fan but they're growing on me," he said.
"If they get good combinations between each other it works but when two refs are putting their style on the game and it's a lot different it doesn't work.
"With two refs with a similar style it works for sure."
The Tigers' win was their fifth straight and, with their final three games against strugglers Parramatta, Gold Coast and Cronulla, Tim Sheens' men could be expected to head to the finals with a wet sail.
Significantly, though, the Eels and Titans have already beaten the Tigers this year, while the Sharks fell by just two points in the clubs' last meeting in 2010.
Heighington said his side was wary of slipping up after wins over big guns North Queensland, Manly and St George Illawarra in recent weeks.
"Every team's pretty hard to play and Parra gave us a (22-6) hiding last time we played them and we've got them again so we're not looking too far ahead," he said.
"We'll try and get the results in the next three weeks and go into semi-finals in some good form."
The 28-year-old, along with winger Beau Ryan, had been linked with a move to the Panthers as part of a re-jig of the Tigers' roster for 2012 but will now see out the final two years of his contract.
"It was just more options with my manager and stuff like that but it would have been definitely one of the hardest things to do to leave this great club," he said.
"I love the Tigers and I've been here nine years and I want to finish my time here.
"I've got another two years left and I'll be seeing out those years."
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