00:00Magdalena Serraldo blasting the refs again after the Bulldogs went down to the West Tigers by,
00:08was it six points?
00:10Yeah, so this round was actually the closest I think it's been since the start of the year.
00:17On average, it was a seven-point difference.
00:20So, it was good to see things be a bit tighter, albeit some teams just weren't that good and
00:26together, they just both produced bad games so that no one was scoring.
00:30But with the Bulldogs, it seemed to become a trend that has become old really quickly where
00:37Serraldo, after every single loss, has something to say about the officiating.
00:45And not only the officiating, but blaming that one certain core is responsible for losing momentum
00:53for as long as 20 minutes sometimes.
00:55And I wanted to say from you, Lee, when coaches, obviously, contentious calls has been one of
01:05the biggest talking points this year in the rugby league landscape.
01:08But when is it just a question of, is it calls or are you not building a resilient team?
01:17And how much can you blame them?
01:19It's a common tactic from coaches that are losing, quite frankly, who want to distract the casual viewer
01:28from their deficiencies in their side.
01:32I suggest Cameron Serraldo spends more time looking on getting his attack to click.
01:37So some statistics, sorry, Darren, I'm coming on your patch here, but 78 tackles in the attacking
01:44half compared to the West Tigers, 39 and 37 tackles to seven in the opposition, 20.
01:53They're just not converting pressure into points.
01:56The other thing Cameron Serraldo probably need to spend more time focusing on is their edge
02:00defence.
02:00The two in and three in defender on each side of the Bulldogs defence just doesn't seem connected,
02:06whether they're coming up and in, whether they're coming up and out, whether they're
02:09holding, whether they're rushing, they're all over the show.
02:13So that said, to me, there was two contentious calls.
02:21So the one that's not made as many headlines is Stephen Crichton, the try that he didn't
02:27score, but scored.
02:29I had a look at that on unless the defender's leg was buried significantly under the ground
02:36at that time.
02:36I think there's enough there to suggest that there might have been a poor decision.
02:43Forgive me if I'm wrong, Mag.
02:45The try was given then, wasn't it, by the ref?
02:49I think so, yeah.
02:50I think so.
02:51Yeah.
02:51So by the rules, as I understand them, the bunker has got to look for evidence to overturn
02:59the try.
02:59Yeah.
03:00I didn't see that evidence.
03:02The next one, the big one that's made the headlines, Josh Curran.
03:07Now, by the letter of the law, yes, it probably wasn't a try because Jerome Luai's leg was
03:16brushed.
03:17I think it hit his first three toes, I think.
03:21Yeah.
03:22My problem is with the law.
03:24Change the law because there's no way that Jerome Luai would have been damaged by what
03:33Josh Curran did.
03:34So I understand why Cameron Serraldo is mentioning what he's mentioning after the game because
03:43he's got some frailties in his side.
03:46But the other way of looking at this, and you remember I spoke about Shane Flanagan during
03:51his time at the Dragons and said he needs to focus on the positives.
03:57So Tilly Tupanua was brilliant, did some fantastic things for the Dogs.
04:01There's so much desire in the Dogs.
04:03They're trying to fix things.
04:05And that's, we've even questioned that over the last few weeks, but it was very evident.
04:10The other thing is that the media are going on Galvin watch.
04:16Now, just anecdotally, this guy seems to score a try every week.
04:21And the last time I checked, the game is about scoring more points than the opposition.
04:26So Galvin's scoring and he's not the problem at the Dogs, like I've said numerous times.
04:34So I think to talk about Cameron Serraldo's response, I think he's got to think about his
04:40messaging because the players will start to pick up on that too, won't they, Darren?
04:45Yeah, that was going to be my question sort of expanding on what Maggie asked there about
04:49on one hand, is it a coach trying to create a distraction where it's like, don't talk
04:54about how bad we are, talk about how bad the referees were.
04:57But the other one is if a coach is distracted constantly by a poor decision and they react
05:04that way, do the players then feel, because that could come across as either a lack of
05:09control from a coach where a coach is getting distracted in the moment rather than just sort
05:14of reacting to game play.
05:15And then the players might feel that lack of control and then they themselves don't have
05:20that sort of composure when it matters in games if it rubs off that way.
05:25Yeah.
05:26And I think that's just where it comes back to resilience.
05:29You see sides historically like the Melbourne Storm, who I think are one of the most, although
05:36people say they used to control the ruck and kind of get through loopholes in certain rules,
05:42they were a resilient team.
05:44Same with the Panthers.
05:45All these teams that are the premiership contenders, they're resilient.
05:50And I think if you continue this narrative of always blaming the officials, it is going to
05:56rub off on your players.
05:57But then again, what I was also going to bring up is it's not only the coaches who are upset
06:04with the officiating this year, it is the players.
06:07And Lee, you were looking at this too, the Rugby League Players Association did a survey
06:13across, I think it was 57 players, everyone with a representative from all 17 teams.
06:19And they questioned them about their attitudes towards the game, enjoyment levels, and how
06:26much they think officiating is controlling the game.
06:30The scariest statistic for me is that 84% of the players feel that the referee is having
06:37an impact on results.
06:39And the more we try to manipulate, if you like, the outcomes via this method, then it takes
06:47away the sporting endeavour.
06:50It takes away the focus on the sporting endeavour.
06:5395% of the players said fatigue has gone up.
06:56So when fatigue goes up, there's more chance of injury.
06:5861.5% of players believe they're more susceptible to injury as a result.
07:0539% also said they get less enjoyment from the game than last season.
07:11And 12.5% said they enjoy it more than half a neutral.
07:16I mean, part of me thinks, well, it's your job, so you don't always enjoy your job.
07:20So that last one, I've done them in order of importance in my eyes.
07:27I think the most standout one is that 84% believe referees are having an impact on results.
07:34But maybe that's because that's what their coaches are saying.
07:36I don't know.
07:38And the fatigue one is scary too.
07:40Yeah, that is a bit upsetting to hear, isn't it?
07:43And I think if we surveyed the fans, you'd probably get a higher percentage of fans that
07:48are a little bit more upset about the high-octane modern game.
07:53And yeah, but going back to Serraldo, I think he does need to take a lot of responsibility
07:59here.
07:59They're sitting 8-4, so you can't just be blaming the refs in the press conference.
08:04And fair enough, if you're-
08:04There's one thing he doesn't do.
08:05He doesn't take responsibility.
08:06Yeah, and that's the thing.
08:08He's sitting 8-4.
08:09They're, I think, 14th on the ladder at the moment.
08:12You can blame the refs.
08:13Everybody is on that side of the game is not what it used to be.
08:18But at the same time, you're 4-8.
08:23You're 4-8?
08:234-8.
08:244-8, yeah.
08:25You've got to take some responsibility there, surely.
08:28And you'd hope if he is just trying to create a distraction so that we're not piling on the
08:33Bulldogs players, you'd hope behind the scenes he's given them an absolute bait because they're
08:37not playing very well at the moment.
08:39But...
08:42...
08:46...
08:47...
08:48...
08:48...
Comments