Tony Archer and his press statements

[SupermanSupportsEasts4Eva]

I prefer the old system where the ref went upstairs and could be over ruled by technology. Not this current crap that looks for ways to agree with the incorrect live opinion of the ref

So with that in mind....

Q1. With all these issues does anyone here think the bunker is worth the 2million they spend on it?

Q2. Wasn't the idea of the bunker originally sold to everyone as "by having a former player in the bunker it will allow for more common sense 'footballing decisions' to be made?"

[liver1971]

Seems we aren't the only ones who thinks Archer stinks
From the Mole
Referee under fire

There are shocking decisions from referees and the bunker every weekend, but the blatantly forward pass from Tigers fullback James Tedesco that led to a try by Tui Lolohea against the Roosters was one of the worst.

Referee Chris James was right in line with the pass, yet unbelievably failed to blow the whistle.

Fellow refs aren’t happy because James is a favourite of ref's boss Tony Archer and wasn’t censured over the incident the way other referees have been for lesser errors this season.

It explains James’ nickname in the referees' ranks - 'The Koala' - because he is a protected species.

[PeeGee]

Seems we aren't the only ones who thinks Archer stinks
From the Mole
Referee under fire

There are shocking decisions from referees and the bunker every weekend, but the blatantly forward pass from Tigers fullback James Tedesco that led to a try by Tui Lolohea against the Roosters was one of the worst.

Referee Chris James was right in line with the pass, yet unbelievably failed to blow the whistle.

Fellow refs aren’t happy because James is a favourite of ref's boss Tony Archer and wasn’t censured over the incident the way other referees have been for lesser errors this season.

It explains James’ nickname in the referees' ranks - 'The Koala' - because he is a protected species.

Ha Classic. It'd be nice if it made the back page of the tele ........

[The Sack]

Koala lol, a midget koala at that.

[trewhella]

Who is Tony Archer?
who pays his wages?
Does he have a history of being impartial?
what is his occupation?

[The Lip]

I think the Koala hates us more than any other ref. Small sample size I know as he hasn't been around for as long as some of the others but I cringe when I see that little inbred cretin (mis)managing our games. Anyone know that Raiders fan that's been banned? We should get him to our next game the Koala refs and get him seats in bay 13 right above the tunnel.

[4 the all in brawl]

I think the Koala hates us more than any other ref.

Gawd, that's a pretty big claim considering Cummins, Badger and Klein all appeared to have hated us for a very long time.

[theGman]

Gawd, that's a pretty big claim considering Cummins, Badger and Klein all appeared to have hated us for a very long time.

They all suffer from small mans syndrome.

Why is it nearly all refs are short arses?

[The Sack]

They all suffer from small mans syndrome.

Why is it nearly all refs are short arses?

No wonder they can't see forward passes.

[eddie]

Not Really Listening pty ltd want to influence the outcome of games as much as they can get away with.
They ain't gonna fix a stupid system if it gives them that scope.

[ism22]

I think his statements are pretty stupid because they are entirely random. People have questions about inconsistencies ever week (often longstanding ones) and he says absolutely nothing most weeks. Then outta nowhere (once or twice a season) he'll cherrypick some random call and make a spineless comment about it. If he's ruled against a young ref then the ref will be 'sacked' (which is a myth, nobody gets sacked, they just get rested for a week) and life goes on.

IMO this should be a regular, structured process. The goal of his interpretation isn't to catch out teams/coaches... it's to inform them so that less penalties get called, making the game smoother to watch.

Archer should do a weekly column where he mentions:
- A focus point of the week... what's something that he noticed teams were doing wrong?
- Answer no less than 3 questions about borderline/inconsistent rulings. Yeah and... show some spine when doing this (take on the top teams and their tactics)! For example 'Jizz-meister from Whakatane wants to know why Cronk always gets a penalty awarded for intentionally passing to an offside player, when the Dragons werr told to play on during a nailbiter against Brisbane on Friday night?' or 'Lots of readers have asked why the Storm are allowed to hang onto players for an extended period of time after the tackle and why Cam Smith regularly has a second go at attacking players while they are playing the ball, DISCUSS...'

IMO discussion of such topics can only do good. Either players will learn to understand the game/tactics better (a GREAT outcome for young players and local/amateur coaches who wanna coach like pros) and it would lead to the refs' guidelines on borderline calls being publicly available to all.

Also, I think this could help us to understand why some of the top players in the game are amazing rather than cheating mugs.

[Game Fowl]

Jeeez Jism - you fairly give it to the Storm Super troopers, but the concept as a whole has merit and should be presented further up the NRL ladder than just here on the Pen.

[The Lip]

I think his statements are pretty stupid because they are entirely random. People have questions about inconsistencies ever week (often longstanding ones) and he says absolutely nothing most weeks. Then outta nowhere (once or twice a season) he'll cherrypick some random call and make a spineless comment about it. If he's ruled against a young ref then the ref will be 'sacked' (which is a myth, nobody gets sacked, they just get rested for a week) and life goes on.

IMO this should be a regular, structured process. The goal of his interpretation isn't to catch out teams/coaches... it's to inform them so that less penalties get called, making the game smoother to watch.

Archer should do a weekly column where he mentions:
- A focus point of the week... what's something that he noticed teams were doing wrong?
- Answer no less than 3 questions about borderline/inconsistent rulings. Yeah and... show some spine when doing this (take on the top teams and their tactics)! For example 'Jizz-meister from Whakatane wants to know why Cronk always gets a penalty awarded for intentionally passing to an offside player, when the Dragons werr told to play on during a nailbiter against Brisbane on Friday night?' or 'Lots of readers have asked why the Storm are allowed to hang onto players for an extended period of time after the tackle and why Cam Smith regularly has a second go at attacking players while they are playing the ball, DISCUSS...'

IMO discussion of such topics can only do good. Either players will learn to understand the game/tactics better (a GREAT outcome for young players and local/amateur coaches who wanna coach like pros) and it would lead to the refs' guidelines on borderline calls being publicly available to all.

Also, I think this could help us to understand why some of the top players in the game are amazing rather than cheating mugs.

All great ideas - you should somehow try to put this forward to someone who could make it happen. They the refs won't want it but o think in the end we would end up with better more transparent and unbiased refereeing.

[eddie]

Archer should do a weekly column
.

But we wanna hear less from him.
Jokes aside , I get the thought behind your post, but none of it would be neccesary if we dispensed with archer and the whole game manager set up.
Bring back referees?.................yeah.

My best suggestion for what archer should do with a column would involve using the term in a different context.

[player 1]

Hey what's the bet that Archer holds a press conference condemning the Cordner penalty?? I'm only half joking, the guy clearly has a problem with us and he has let his bias get in the way of his judgement before.