NRL Opening Lines (Round 22)...

Quote Originally Posted by emkee:

THE NRL’s video referees department perfected the art of failing upwards, appointing Steve Clark to adjudicate the season’s biggest game after his Tim Lafai stuff-up last weekend.Under pressure to remain on duty after he and former Tigers utility Ben Galea inexplicably overturned the on-field referral and ruled Lafai had lost control of the ball, Clark was instead rewarded with the plum gig at Friday night’s top-of-the-table blockbuster between Souths and Manly at the SCG.Clark’s elevation comes after his boss, Tony Archer, this week conceded the Lafai call was wrong. It also comes after another member of staff, a technician, stormed out of the video referees box and was overheard loudly criticising Clark in a common area lounge on level three of ANZ Stadium.A witness in the lounge told The Daily Telegraph the technician was yelling into a telephone at halftime, just 10 minutes after the Lafai decision.“He was wearing an NRL shirt and he was absolutely filthy,” the witness said. “He was having a very animated conversation on the telephone at halftime, saying ‘I can’t believe Clarky made that call. I can’t go back in there.’”On Tuesday the NRL confirmed it was looking into the incident, but said the technician involved was a contractor.Clark has also been rostered on for another free-to-air fixture: Sunday’s Dragons-Panthers clash at WIN Stadium. On the same afternoon, Galea will be in Auckland for the Warriors and Sharks showdown.The NRL has confirmed that if there was any disagreement between the ex-player and Clark, the casting vote would have gone to Galea.Archer on Tuesday night revealed only two video referees have been dropped this season, and that he was trying to operate with a smaller pool to achieve more consistency.“I have said that I don’t believe there was sufficient evidence to overturn the Lafai decision,” Archer said.“But Steven Clark remains one of our most experienced referees and is the right person for such an important game. He was in the video referees box the following night for the Dragons v Roosters match and I was very comfortable with his performance.”Furious over the Lafai call, Bulldogs officials were further exasperated when they learned of Clark’s fortunes. Their confusion was compounded when Clark awarded Rooster Aidan Guerra a try on Saturday, despite appearing to have less control of the ball than Lafai.Canterbury coach Des Hasler spoke with Archer over the weekend, and has been attempting to lock down a face-to-face meeting before the team travels to Brisbane tomorrow.But Bulldogs CEO Raelene Castle wants the debacle to trigger more change, and has been speaking to her predecessor — NRL football boss Todd Greenberg — about fast-tracking a “bunker” system for next season.Castle is adamant that every match of the year should be overseen by the same video referee to achieve consistency. With two video referees needed for each match at present, there are concerns the NRL doesn’t have enough trained bodies to enforce changes when mistakes are made.The “bunker” proposal has been talked about for years, but a concept involving just one person adjudicating every game has never been raised.It is yet to be formally discussed at a CEOs conference, but Greenberg is ­believed to be receptive to Castle’s idea.