Warriors v Bulldogs: NRL referees boss admits mistake as high shot on Roger Tuivasa-Sheck goes unpunished

Roger Tuivasa-Sheck leaves the field for a concussion test. Photo / Photosport

NRL referees boss Graham Annesley has admitted Canterbury Bulldogs centre Stephen Crichton should have been sin-binned for a high shot that ended Warriors opposite Roger Tuivasa-Sheck’s season.

In the 46th minute of the Warriors’ 34-18 defeat on Friday, Tuivasa-Sheck was hit in the head by Crichton and failed a head injury assessment (HIA) as a result.

Tuivasa-Sheck was visibly affected by the shot to the head, and needed help standing before leaving the field. However, while Crichton was placed on report by referee Wyatt Raymond, bunker operator Liam Kennedy deemed no further action was required.

In-game microphones heard the officials state there were too many mitigating factors in Crichton’s tackle to warrant a sending-off.

That meant while Tuivasa-Sheck’s game, and by extension season, was over, Crichton was free to play on, and had a hand in teammate Jacob Kiraz’s final try.

Crichton has still been handed a grade-two careless high tackle charge and faces a ban of between one or two weeks if found guilty.

Speaking at his weekly briefing, conducted after every round, Annesley admitted the officials did not make the correct decision in punishing Crichton.

“We accept that was an error, no one’s disputing that,” said Annesley.

“We have listened to the audio – it’s purely a judgment error. The bunker official involved didn’t give due consideration to the impact of the tackle.

“They do have criteria that they look at, you hear them talking about that sort of thing. But ultimately, they have to make an assessment of how serious that particular incident was.

“It was purely a poor judgment call. Sometimes people’s judgement lets them down. That’s what happened in this case. There’s no other way of describing it.”

Annesley was unable to confirm whether Raymond or Kennedy will continue officiating this weekend’s round of NRL fixtures, because refereeing appointments have not yet been made.

But while Crichton went unpunished, the NRL appeared to compensate for the rest of the round with an overcorrection of incidents involving high tackle penalties and charges.

In total, 10 different players will front the NRL judiciary on a high tackle charge, though two of them came from Wests Tigers’ victory over the Manly Sea Eagles, played before the Warriors v Bulldogs clash.

All up, 30 penalties were awarded for high tackles, while six players were sent to the sin bin. Throughout the course of this NRL campaign, a total of 342 penalties and 27 sin-binnings have been dished out for high tackles.

Annesley professed that since round 15, the NRL had seen a spike in high tackles being penalised by referees, but wasn’t able to pinpoint why that was the case.

However, despite the errors of the last weekend, Annesley said he was content with the way high tackles are penalised by officials.

This is the second time Annesley has conceded the Warriors were unfairly treated by the bunker, after admitting Te Maire Martin should have been awarded a penalty in round 18, coincidentally also for a high shot against the Bulldogs.

Alex Powell is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has been a sports journalist since 2016, and previously worked for both Newshub and 1News.