Trent Robinson was hit with a $40,000 fine on Tuesday night over his sensational Anzac Day outbursts at referee Ben Cummins but it was an exchange between one of the game’s most powerful club figures and the new NRL chief executive in the Allianz Stadium tunnel that has captivated attention in league circles.
Nick Politis, the rich and powerful Sydney Roosters chairman, vented his fury over the use of the competition’s latest officiating toy, the $2 million bunker, at Todd Greenberg soon after the team’s 20-18 defeat to St George Illawarra.
In a confrontation that illustrated the anger flooding out of the Roosters – a sentiment demonstrated before the cameras shortly afterwards with the head coach’s news conference spray – Politis was said to have taken Greenberg to task over the growing influence of the bunker.
It was Greenberg, in the previous post as NRL head of football, who was the driving force in the introduction this season of the new Redfern-based video-review system, which Robinson blamed on Monday night for “soft calls” that cost his team a chance at victory against the Dragons.
The Roosters were not sanctioned over the Politis-Greenberg exchange – a chairman has every right to approach the NRL CEO, according to League Central – but Robinson is facing financial penalty for a separate incident in which, according to the NRL, he “allegedly approached and harassed” Cummins in the Allianz tunnel.
The coach is understood to have unloaded on Cummins over the way he talks to Roosters players, accusing the whistleblower of disrespect.
He repeated the claims when he fronted the media in the nearby auditorium, saying: “Ben has been horrible and disrespectful to our players for many years and it has continued. He speaks poorly to our players. He won’t look them in the eye.”
Robinson knew he would be fined and he wasn’t wrong as the NRL issued breach notices over his news conference, in which it said he “attacked the credibility” of Cummins, and the tunnel altercation.
He stands to be slugged $20,000 for each attack and the club has seven days to respond.
“We cannot stand by and allow any club to deliberately and blatantly attack our referees,” Greenberg said.
“Not only is it a breach of the rules which are there to protect our referees from abuse, but it sets a bad example to the rest of the game, particularly juniors.
“We know from experience that young people imitate their NRL heroes and attacking referees is simply not acceptable.
“We are also trying to encourage young people to become referees and public attacks like this do nothing to achieve that goal.”
Greenberg said Robinson had not followed the correct procedure to voice his concerns.
“There are proper channels to vent those concerns and they were not followed in this instance,” he said.
“Our referees boss, Tony Archer, is happy to talk to any club about issues which arise out of a game and that is the right way to address any problems.”
On a day in which ARL Commission chairman John Grant accused the Roosters of running an “orchestrated” campaign against Cummins, former top referee and ex-NRL refs’ boss Bill Harrigan said Robinson was skating on thin ice with his public comments about Cummins.
“I think he’s probably walking the line very closely to a defamation suit,” Harrigan told Triple M radio.
“When you start [making] defamatory remarks about a referee, saying that he’s biased or cheating, you’ve got to be very careful.”
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