The NRL's head of football has been forced to admit more wrong decisions during Round 14 as the quality of refereeing continues to be a talking point throughout the 2023 season.
Wrong calls were confirmed by Annesley during Monday's footy briefing out of the Tigers-Raiders, Rabbitohs-Titans and Panthers-Dragons games.
Two of the calls could have directly impacted the result, with Jamal Fogarty awarded a try for the Raiders despite a push in the lead-up from Emre Guler on Luke Brooks.
The try being awarded caused outrage for Tigers fans and coach Tim Sheens, who took aim during the post-match press conference. Annesley said that the style of collision was clear means for a try not to be awarded.
“Had this just been a collision where they bump into each other and someone falls as a result of the collision then it's probably a different story, but in this case it's the extension of the arms that turns this into what I consider an illegal action that should have been acted upon,” Annesley said.
“It was reviewed by the Bunker. The view that the Bunker arrived at was Brooks stopped competing for the ball.
“He definitely slows down as he turns before the collision, but there's no rule in the book that says you have to keep running at a certain speed. You just can't simply extend your arms and push him over without the ball.
“In my view, this was an error by the Bunker and the try shouldn't have been awarded.”
Meanwhile, Sunday evening's final game of the round saw Mathew Feagai called for a knock on despite the ball clearly travelling backwards.
Referee Chris Sutton had originally ruled it that way, before changing his decision to a knock on after advice from the touch judge. The Dragons, who had a challenge, elected not to use it, but fans nonetheless were left up in arms at the decision.
Annesley confirmed how it played out during his briefing.
“It's clearly an incorrect decision,” Annesley said.
“The irony of this and the disappointing thing about this – not only for the NRL and the Dragons but for the referee himself because he made the right decision – was that he got it right and was talked out of it by someone else.
“Had he stuck with his initial reaction to this incident that he had already made then I wouldn't be standing here talking about it. I know he will be gutted by that, as are the Dragons and the NRL because we don't want to see these things happening.”
Penrith, who scored in the following set, ultimately won the game against the Dragons, with the moment proving vital.
Hip drops were also back in the news, with Jai Arrow now ruled out for six to eight weeks with a syndesmosis injury. Despite the fact Chris Randall wasn't penalised after review from the bunker at the time, he has been hit with a suspension by the match review committee for the tackle.
The tackle will rule Arrow out of the remainder of the Origin series for Queensland, as well as a number of games for South Sydney.
Annesley said it was indeed a hip drop and should have resulted in a penalty for the Redfern-based side.
“The level of action that should have been taken was clearly a penalty, but whether it should have been more than that or not would have depended on how the Bunker relayed the information back to the match officials.
“Action was required in this incident.”
The dismal weekend for the officials will continue to heap pressure on a group who have struggled to be consistent from game to game this season.
Issues have constantly plagued the officials, although were mostly absent from Origin 1 last Wednesday in Adelaide.
