NRL's Head Of Football Graham Annesley Says He's Telling Referees To "Stay Out Of It"

The NRL's Head of Football Graham Annesley has told Triple M that he'll be instructing referees to "stay out of it" as much as possible for the upcoming season.

Annesley joined The Rush Hour with MG to talk about the new initiative, which will put the onus back on the players to "sort out the outcome".

A former referee himself, Annesley pointed to the fact that there were 700 more penalties last year than the year before as a sign that things needed to change in 2019.

Listen below:

"I'm certainly not saying it's going to be a free-for-all because the referees aren't blowing penalties. Far from it," he said.

"There might be some games during the season that have five or six penalties, there might be others that have 20.

"And that will all be determined by what's on the field."

Annesley also explained how the high level of penalties had knock-on effects for the rest of the game, admitting that there were more sin bins in 2018 than in the five previous years combined.

Hear the full chat below:

Don't miss a minute of The Rush Hour with MG; listen live from 6pm weeknights on 104.9 Triple M or download the Triple M app to Catch-Up now.