Grant Atkins is reportedly set to be tasked with officiating next Sunday’s NRL decider following Ashley Klein’s penalty-a-thon on Friday night.
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Klein entered preliminary final week as the favourite to be officiating this year’s grand final, but his performance in the Storm-Sharks prelim was heavily panned after he whistled 18 penalties.
“Mate, if that’s a prelim and you want a grand final to have 18 penalties … I am not sooking about the ref, the better side won today,” Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon said.
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“Melbourne were the better side today, hands down. But I think the first half was 22 minutes of ball-in-play. What are we doing for a prelim?”
The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield has reported that Klein has paid the price.
“I’m 99.9% certain that Ashley Klein will be sacked as grand final referee,” Rothfield said on Triple M’s Sunday Sin Bin.
I spoke to key people at the NRL and these people have been really strong backers of Ashley Klein for a number of years, but they were really disappointed with his performance on Friday night.
“All Grant Atkins has to do is get a pass mark at Suncorp Stadium this afternoon and he will referee his first grand final.”
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It’s not the first time this finals series that Klein’s performance has come under fire.
He officiated the controversial 94-minute epic between Brisbane and Canberra, with several calls criticised.
“I thought he had an off game,” journalist Brent Read said following Brisbane’s 29-28 win.
Former NRL star Wade Graham is another who has been critical with the job Klein has done in recent weeks.
“Ashley Klein has been disappointing in this finals series. I think of the Raiders-Broncos games and then on Friday night,” Graham said.
“The way the game eventuated last night with the amount of penalties, I think that’s it for him this year.”
Klein has refereed three grand finals, including last year’s Panthers-Storm decider.