Referees in the spotlight, top eight race wide open

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THE referees are back in the spotlight again after some dubious calls in Round 18 of the NRL.

While Sean O’Sullivan’s try for the Roosters raised plenty of eyebrows, another question can be posed: is it time the bunker ruled on forward passes in the lead-up to a try?

“That was probably the most laughable decision that I can remember” said Paul Crawley.

“The ruling apparently was that you have to pretend the goal post doesn’t exist.

“By coming off the goal post, the ball was still travelling backwards and not forwards.

Everyone that watches it can clearly see he knocks the ball forward and there’s no way in the world - even if the rule says that’s a try, it’s not a try.”

It capped some controversial rulings through the weekend with a Suliasi Vunivalu try being awarded off a forward pass from Curtis Scott while Michael Chee Kam was denied a try against the Dragons off a pass that looked backwards.

“I don’t trust the Bunker at the moment because you just don’t know what ruling they’re going to come up with,” said Fatima Kdouh.

“Forward passes are going to decide games, and crucial games.

“It’s going to be one of those rules that adds more of a grey area to something that shouldn’t be so complicated.”