Rugby league’s most respected and longest-serving coach, Wayne Bennett, has launched a blistering attack on the NRL Bunker, arguing that the video referee system does more harm than good for players and the millions of fans who follow the game.
In a country like Papua New Guinea, where every NRL weekend is debated on the streets and inside homes from Port Moresby to Mt Hagen, Bennett’s explosive comments ring true for local fans. The seven-time premiership-winning coach believes the game was much better when we simply trusted the on-field referees.
The Super-coach was left furious after a controversial play-the-ball decision went against his South Sydney Rabbitohs side, leading to a crucial match-winning try for the Manly Sea Eagles.
“They have all the opportunity to make a decision and to see it and they still get it wrong,” Bennett said.
Bennett, who has coached an incredible 972 games across a legendary 40-year career, revealed that NRL management actually called him to apologize for the blunders in that game. But the apology didn’t change his mind. He wants the Bunker completely gone.
“I’m a fan of no Bunker, I can tell you,” Bennett stated. “I’d rather just the game played on with life and accept it like we always accepted it.”
For PNG fans who grew up watching traditional, fast-flowing footy, Bennett’s words make perfect sense. He argues that while other global sports like soccer, basketball, and American gridiron use video technology sparingly, the NRL has become completely obsessed with it, halting the game’s natural momentum.
One of Bennett’s biggest issues is how long decisions take, forcing fans to stare at the big screen while the excitement drains out of the stadium or the TV room.
“We put ours up on a board, on a replay board, it could be two or three minutes,” Bennett says.
“You’re just sitting there watching, making your own opinion about it all, and then we still get it wrong.”
The NRL mastermind believes rugby league fans across the world, including the game’s most fanatic supporters in PNG, would be much happier returning to the days of fast-paced, continuous action where a referee’s word was final.
Source: Australian Associated Press