‘They’re just guessing’: Ricky joins NRL referee pile-on

Days after Wayne Bennett unloaded on the NRL’s refereeing “issue” and called for changes, the competition’s most-fined coach in history has added to the widening floodgates.

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has accused the referees of “guessing” when it comes to handing out six-agains and penalties, claiming the 50/50 calls were on display again as Canberra slumped to 12th on the ladder following a 16-6 loss to Melbourne.

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The Raiders, who have been fighting to stay in touching distance of finals these last few weeks, fell foul of the penalty (5-4) and six-again (6-4) counts under Grant Atkins on Saturday.

Stuart clearly saw this as lopsided, calling the game’s adjudicating into question after the loss.

“To answer your question (at this stage addressing a journalist in the media room after the game), we were on the wrong side of the guessing game again,” Ricky quickly claimed less than half an hour after the 10-point defeat. “They’re just guessing mate. Those six agains, they’re just guessing—‘I’ll give one away here, I’ll give one away there.’”

Stuart, who is already the comp’s most-fined coach, added to the growing uproar around the #NRL refereeing standards by claiming officials are “guessing” with six-agains.

His scathing attack on the ‘six-again’ rule comes after @RaidersCanberra lost 16-6 this week.… pic.twitter.com/Ty4mDonB2s

— The Sporting Base – NRL (@BaseNrl) June 30, 2024

Club captain Elliott Whitehead was also asked what he thought about the penalty calls in the game, but the Raiders second-rower chose to say nothing of note—a response that paled after Stuart’s blow-up.

Stuart’s stinging remarks come just days after Bennett declared he “couldn’t bet a penny on rugby league at the moment,” before turning the jets on the officials. “We can’t hide and pretend it is not a problem because it is a problem. It is causing massive frustration, not just with the players and coaches, but the fans. People always go on about consistency.

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“I know how hard consistency is,” the supercoach continued in his Friday tirade the NRL has yet to respond to. “What I want is fairness. I want to know we’re all getting a fair shake.”