Immortal great Andrew Johns has demanded the referees let the players determine who wins the game on the eve of this weekend's mouth-watering preliminary finals.
With what looms as one of the most exciting finals weekends in recent years, the Knights great has urged the referees to get a feel for the match and refrain from using the sin-bin during critical stages of the contest.
Johns' appeal comes in response to the controversial sin-binning of Manly forward Jake Trobjevic in last weekend's preliminary final between the Sea Eagles and Rabbitohs.
Trbojevic was sent to the sidelines in the 68th minute of the game, when his side held a narrow lead, for allegedly taking out Rabbitohs back Dane Gagai off the ball in a try-scoring situation.
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The Rabbitohs then went on to win the game, ending Manly's season in contentious circumstances.
Johns told Wide World of Sports' Freddy and the Eighth he is hoping the referees officiate the games with instinct rather than going to the bunker so often to allow for a more natural outcome this weekend.
"The overcoaching of the referees is too much," Johns noted.
"They have a feel for the game yet there's somebody up high, whether it's the bunker or in the stands, tipping them all the time - they've just got to stay out of it.
"Let them have a feel for the game. The overreliance on the bunker drives me mad."
Jake Trbojevic has been sin binned for taking out Dane Gagai off the ball.
— FOX LEAGUE (@FOXNRL) September 20, 2019
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The two-time premiership winner argued the Trbojevic sin-binning was unjust, and should not have determined the Sea Eagles' season.
He went on to say that in the big games, such as a preliminary or grand final, the referees should be ordered to let the game flow during the crucial stages by putting the whistle away.
"The last ten minutes of the game, in the championship rounds, in these big games, let the players sort it out," John said.
"If you want to set the tone early with a few penalties, so be it, but late in the game please no sin bins, and put the whistle away."
Johns is the latest league heavyweight to call out the referee's performance from last weekend's finals action, following fellow Channel 9 commentator Phil Gould's assessment of the officiating from the Storm-Eels knockout final.
The former premiership-winning coach was scathing in his evaluation of the way referees managed the semi-final in which Cameron Smith was sin-binned for an alleged slap on Eels hooker Reed Mahoney.
“The game's a nanny state, this governing body is so overprotective and so interfering in the game," Gould said after Melbourne's 32-0 over Parramatta.
“It's created an era of referees who are totally overcoached and the game is over-refereed, this is ridiculous.
“… Absolutely it does upset me, it's an embarrassment to our code.”
