Gelling: Video refs sucking life out of rugby league

Anthony Gelling celebrates his try against St Helens last week

He has been left frustrated by the painstaking scrutiny - and the time they take - reviewing footage before deciding whether to award a try or not.

Earlier this week, the Kiwi centre created a light-hearted video lampooning the use of the big-screen official.

Gelling took two sporting moments - Manchester City’s dramatic title-winning goal, and a Conor McGregor knock-out - and edited in his own commentary to imagine how they may have unfolded if football and MMA had video referees.

The three-minute long clip - captioned ‘As my war on video referees wages on...’ - has been viewed more than 50,000 times on Facebook.

And while he admits he would not scrap the use of the extra official, he thinks they could make a call on one or two views.

He said: “They suck the life out of rugby league.

“In other sports, there’s the excitement factor - you see it in football - they score a goal and you can celebrate, jump around.

“You don’t have to sit there, waiting for four minutes, five minutes, six minutes - it’s frustrating.

“It’s not even about the decisions - that’s not the point - it’s the procedure which frustrates me.

“Watching it three times, four times, going back to the same angle, slowing it down - if you watch it once on replay, you’ve got a fair idea of whether it was a try or not.

“The NRL has been good this year, I’ve watched a lot and there have been times they watch it once, maybe twice, and go to the screen.

“I wouldn’t get rid of them, I think it’s important to get the big decisions right, but I’d speed up the process.”

He believes Wigan are hampered by the lengthy deliberations as they give their opponents “a time out”; Warriors try and avoid breaks in play, which is why they don’t kick for touch as often as other teams.

The Warriors head to Hull FC tomorrow for another Sky televised showdown, knowing a victory could propel them to third if Wakefield lose to St Helens tonight.

Shaun Wane’s charges have won their last three Super League games since a 32-16 loss at Leeds at the start of the Super-8s.

“We have the odd slip up, we had one against Widnes last year, and people were saying our finals hopes were done,” added Gelling, nodding to the 8-6 home loss - the last defeat of their title-winning campaign.

“But it was like a slap in the face and it brought that focus back. And I think Leeds was the same.

“I’m really confident. I don’t know what it is, it’s like a focus that comes on when the big games come around.”

Meanwhile, Warriors’ Super 8s game at Wakefield on Saturday, September 23, will now kick off at 3.15pm and not the original time of 7pm.