Referees co-coach Bill Harrigan answers your questions from round 23.
Were you happy with the decision to award Canberra's Jarrod Croker a benefit of the doubt try?
You cannot conclusively say that Croker touches the ball. Croker jumps up and competes for the high ball, the ball then falls beside him and he forces it. But because you can not conclusively say that he has touched the ball, the video referee made the right decision to award it a benefit of the doubt try.
Why was Ben Barba disallowed a try when competing for a bomb? Could this have been awarded benefit of the doubt?
The video referee got this 100 per cent right. The video replays show conclusively that the ball touches Barba's hand and is propelled forwards into a Broncos player. It is a clear knock-on.
What is your official view on the 'flop' penalty made by Tony Archer in the Bulldogs-Broncos Game? Did he get this decision wrong?
As the rule currently stands in the NRL, once the referee blows a penalty, he cannot reverse that penalty unless there is deemed to be an act of foul play prior to the penalty being blown. Tony Archer got the decision wrong to penalise a Broncos player for a flop, but once he had blown the penalty, he could not change his decision under the current laws.
What was your thought on the penalty against Jamie Soward in the 49th minue of the Wests Tigers clash with the Dragons for blocking?
I thought it was a very harsh penalty against Soward and the Dragons. Soward is in the area that the bomb is kicked and slightly moves his body, but I thought it was a harsh penalty to rule that he changed directions to block the oncoming attackers.
