Refereeing consistency off to horror start as Dragons secure crisis meeting

We are three games into the 2026 NRL season, and already one club has a crisis meeting with the competition's refereeing elite, and fans have been left scratching their heads over on-field decisions and off-field claims.

Poor refereeing has been something of a theme over the opening 240 minutes of the season, and it's something the game needs to get on top of quickly.

Controversy in refereeing is not exactly a new issue for the competition, but right now, it's hard to argue that anything being dished up by the men in the middle passes the pub test.

If you stretch the mind back to last Sunday, we had a cannonball tackle in the first game, not sin-binned. It was not exactly up for dispute either.

Knights forward Tyson Frizell was penalised and placed on report, but somehow not sin-binned for the contact below the knee of Cowboys forward Thomas Mikaele, who is now looking at six weeks on the sideline.

The match review committee, which is a whole separate ongoing issue for the NRL, only hit Frizell with a Grade 1 charge, and he was let off with a fine.

Then it was off to the Dragons and Bulldogs.

The game, outside of the refereeing, was excellent. The Bulldogs threw the kitchen sink - albeit clunkily - at the Dragons, who defended like their lives depended on it.

But instead of anyone talking about the game, it was the refereeing that was discussed ad nauseam after the contest.

So aggrieved were the Dragons that they submitted a list of inquiries to the NRL after the contest, and now, per News Corp, have secured a crisis meeting with referees' boss Jared Maxwell.

They'll be taking some of the consistency issues we are about to touch on into that meeting, too.

Because in that game, Stephen Crichton wasn't sin-binned for a blatant high shot, Viliame Kikau wasn't penalised for a late shot, and there was, of course, the last play of the game, which was penalised for a strip despite looking more like a loose carry.

Maybe the most unbelievable part was Crichton not even copping a Grade 1 charge from the MRC, and the NRL deciding to back their supposed best referee, Grant Atkins, over all of the decisions.

If that was the precedent, and the way we were going to play the game in 2026, then just maybe you could wrap your head around it and get on with life.

But the Eels and Storm contest on Thursday evening - the first game on Australian soil for 2026 - proved it won't be.

It didn't take long either. J'maine Hopgood was sin-binned for a head clash with some accidental shoulder contact early in the game, seemingly setting the tone for the night.

Incredibly, less than half an hour late, Isaiah Iongi was hit in a high shot that went unpenalised.

Yes, he stayed down and milked it, but it was almost comical when just seconds later, referee Todd Smith was forced to stop the game and ask Iongi to go for a head injury assessment.

Where, you ask, did the head injury assessment need to come from if he wasn't hit high?

Yeah, exactly.

And that had another adverse consequence. With Iongi passing his HIA, the Eels had to activate Joash Papalii into the game, but weren't allowed to use a fifth substitute. Melbourne, on the other hand, was allowed to do just that, given their HIA came as a result of foul play.

It wasn't just the lack of high tackle consistency, though, as the Storm trounced Parramatta by 48 points. There was a late shot that was no worse, maybe even less late, than the one that got ignored from Viliame Kikau last Sunday that was penalised, a knock on ruled despite the ball pretty clearly going backwards, or at worst, being knocked out by Melbourne.

There was more, but we'd wind up writing the Magna Carta, and nobody needs that to show in exactly what state the NRL have started the season.

50-50s are a part of rugby league, and no one is going to agree with every call. That's just part and parcel of a game where grey areas exist in the rules, and the game is so fast, but there are some seriously worrying bits and bobs to come from the opening three games of the season.

Refereeing issues have followed the game around like a bad smell in recent years, and it's as if the lid of the bin has been opened to start 2026.

It is Round 1, so maybe there is an excuse for some rust in officials, just like players, but let's hope it turns a corner, and fast.