Phil Gould has taken aim at the NRL’s officiating system after Viliame Kikau was found not guilty at the judiciary, despite being sin-binned and charged over a tackle that sparked plenty of debate.
The Bulldogs second-rower had been sent to the bin for dangerous contact on Mitchell Moses during Canterbury’s 30-12 win over Parramatta, with referee Gerard Sutton ruling Kikau had collided with the Eels playmaker’s kicking leg.
The match review committee then issued a charge, but Kikau contested it and walked away, cleared of any fine or record.
“He didn’t deserve to be off the field”: Gould
Now, Bulldogs boss Gould has questioned how the incident made it that far in the first place.
“He was penalised, he was sin binned, he was charged by the match review committee – only to go down to the judiciary and they threw it out straight away,” Gould said on Six Tackles With Gus.
“It makes you wonder why he was penalised on the weekend and then sin-binned, which are both very big penalties during the course of a game. He didn’t deserve to be off the field, and that was later proven at the judiciary.”
Gould said the inconsistency was unfair to both players and the game.
“It just goes to show again that our system is flawed and that our referees, Bunker, match review committee, and judiciary are way too harsh in this game,” he added. “I don’t think it’s fair on the players and I don’t think it’s fair on the game itself.”
With Kikau off the park, the Eels scored to level the game at 12-12, before the Dogs stormed home to seal the result and stay top of the ladder.