CATALANS DRAGONS coach Joel Tomkins has called for more hasty decision making by video referees in the wake of the Dragons’ surprisingly big round-two defeat amid a highly charged atmosphere at Bradford on Friday night.
Almost 10,000 Super League-starved fans turned out to welcome back the competition’s four-times champions and multiple cup winners back to the biggest stage in the Northern Hemisphere and, while almost all were not disappointed with home side’s performance in a 28-10 win, many would join Tomkins in questioning many breaks in the otherwise pulsating action.
Numerous lengthy referrals to the video referee, both after inconclusive tries and resolving captain’s challenges from either side, resulted in the game not finishing before 10pm.
“I can’t sit here after we have just been pumped by a side who played so much better than us and make complaints about the refereeing,” said Tomkins.
“People can make their own decisions, but I can’t criticise because it sounds like sour grapes.
“I spent much time watching the same clips five, six, seven times and it’s just boring.
“Everyone agrees, so what do we do about it?
“Let’s make a rule that the video-ref is only allowed to watch three clips and then he has to make a decision.
“If he makes a mistake, then we move on, whatever decision he makes, as when we are watching the same angle seven times and you can see the ball is on the ground…or it’s not…just make a call as they scared to death of making the wrong one.
“Are there any massive repercussions of making the wrong call, but they hesitate so much?
“And I want to make it clear this is not sour grapes – because we lost the game.
“Surely all the players, fans and media are thinking the same – let’s speed it up.
“We are trying to emulate the NIL with video-refereeing, yet it’s made the game worse from what I am seeing.
“Over there the game flows – it’s quick and they do it in the background.
“They have really decisive people in the bunker…and that is not a criticism of any individuals. We just haven’t got there yet.
“They obviously feel under so much pressure not to make the wrong call, yet end up making it many times anyway
“So let’s have it that they see three angles once, that’s all. And make a decision then we get on with the game!
Tomkins concluded with praise of the Bulls, rampant on their return to host Super League, with pyrotechnics and light shows which tried to emulate the atmosphere surrounding the nineties and early noughties ‘Bullmania’.
“I thought Bradford had a brilliant night – one of those where they had a big crowd and were destined to get a result.
“They’ve got a really good, young British coach, and we need as many of them as we can get, and each of their players did them proud, so I’m genuinely happy for them.”