Warriors coach Stephen Kearney meets with NRL referees boss to raise concerns over officiating

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney with a superbly sceptical look. Photo / Photosport

Warriors coach Stephen Kearney wants to move on from the officiating dramas that has encircled the game this week, though admits he has taken his concerns to the NRL referees boss.

The men in the whistle have been the hot topic over the last seven days, wth high profile blunders and coaches such as Ricky Stuart (Raiders) and Kearney leading the calls for change.

It's also led to leading referee Gerard Sutton being supposedly 'demoted' to the Warriors-Titans clash on Sunday, with the NRL deeming it a 'lower profile' match.

That language has led to claims that the governing body has been disrespectful of the Auckland club, but Kearney was reluctant to engage in such a debate on Thursday.

"The reality of it is there has been enough commentary on it," said Kearney, when asked about the refereeing controversy. "We need to move on and I am sure the powers that be will sort out the process and making sure that we improve it. I think there is enough that has been said about it."

However, Kearney admitted he had talked at length with head of referees Bernie Sutton, presumably over some of the curious calls in the Storm clash as well as the failure in that game to conform to edicts pre-match by the NRL.

"I've spoken to Bernie and that is the process," said Kearney. "I made sure that I followed that up [but] what I spoke to Bernie about is between me and Bernie."

Kearney also said he had no concerns about Gerard Sutton taking control of their match, despite his recent mistakes.

"Our focus is on Sunday afternoon [and] making sure we prepare the best we can," said Kearney. "I'm not worried about the referee's performance, I'm worried about our performance. I'm not going into the game thinking that a bad referee's call is going to cost us the game. We need to turn up with the right attitude and ready to play, and that's all we can concentrate on."

Warriors' playmaker Blake Green, who missed his first match of the season last week but will return for the Titans encounter, admitted the 'lower profile' tag could be viewed as disrespectful but he wasn't fazed by it.

"That's their opinion, hopefully we get a big crowd and maybe we are a bit more important than how people see us," said Green. "We can take it that way but we can't control what other people's opinions are."

Green also echoed Kearney's thoughts about the veteran Gerard Sutton being in charge.

"He's a good referee and I am glad he is having our game."