Wayne Bennett has called for consistency amid the NRL's crackdown on players making contact with referees.
It comes after James Roberts and David Klemmer were both sighted by the match review committee for making innocuous contact with an official.
Roberts took the early guilty plea to avoid any suspension but Klemmer challenged the charge at the judiciary and won.
"It's a bit like the shoulder charge rule; it needs a bit of common sense. If the match review panel has no common sense then we will see this blanket no touching rule," Bennett said.
"I thought the judiciary made the right decision on Klemmer and I think it's a good process."
Bennett admits that although some incidents do need punishment - common sense must prevail.
He says incidents like that involving Steve Roach in 1990 are what the NRL should be targeting.
This incident took place when former NSW enforcer Roach, while playing for club side Balmain, patted referee Eddie Ward on the head after being sin-binned.
Roach copped a four-week suspension for making contact with the head of a referee.
Bennett says Klemmer and Roberts did nothing wrong, especially when compared to past events like that involving Roach.
"What Klemmer and Roberts did wasn't offensive. We don't want players touching referees on the head like we saw 20 years ago but they should have told us before they brought in this blanket rule. I didn't know this was happening," he said.
"It could have been solved pretty easily. If they thought it was an issue they should have advised us all to remind the players not to do it.
"We're living in a touchy feely world now, you've only got to see the players on the field."
