{"id":625866,"date":"2026-04-23T14:25:24","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625866\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T14:25:24","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T14:25:24","slug":"benji-marshall-calls-out-referees-in-press-conference-apisai-koroisau-hip-drop-tackle-suspension-charge-sheet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/625866\/","title":{"rendered":"Benji Marshall calls out referees in press conference, Apisai Koroisau hip-drop tackle, suspension, charge sheet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tigers coach Benji Marshall has taken aim at the \u201cinconsistency of the refereeing\u201d in the NRL, passionately defending skipper Apisai Koroisau after he was placed on report twice in Thursday night\u2019s win over the Raiders<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Koroisau spent 10 minutes in the sin bin for a hip-drop tackle on Noah Martin in the first half and was also placed on report for a dangerous lifting tackle on Zac Hosking later in the game. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Tigers captain has already been charged three times this season, meaning he is likely facing a stint on the sidelines when the match review committee hands down its findings on Friday.<\/p>\n

Perhaps that is why Marshall took the opportunity to criticise the refereeing given it came after he was asked a question about the Tigers\u2019 impressive defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been happy with the defence probably out of all the aspects of our game to start the whole season,\u201d Marshall said.<\/p>\n

\u201cProbably defence and the West Tigers haven\u2019t been synonymous previously, but we made a massive effort in the pre-season to make sure that it was this year. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo really proud of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then, the press conference took an unexpected turn.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, look, it\u2019s probably not a good time, but who cares?\u201d Marshall continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inconsistency of the refereeing is annoying me at the moment, to be honest. I know we won, but just some of the calls were just… it\u2019s hard to understand. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven Api\u2019s case with the sin bin, I don\u2019t know what he\u2019s supposed to do in that situation. He\u2019s making a cover tackle from behind. Of course he\u2019s going to land on his legs. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s heaps of things that didn\u2019t go our way, but I just think the fans deserve some consistency around the interpretations of the rules. We\u2019re not getting it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n

Ricky furious after Tigers defeat | 04:03<\/p>\n

When pressed further on the Koroisau hip-drop tackle, Marshall doubled down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhere\u2019s he supposed to go? He\u2019s coming from behind making a cover tackle where he has to tackle his legs. That\u2019s where he\u2019s going to end up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think it was intentional. He did his 10 minutes, surely that\u2019s enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the lifting tackle on Hosking, Marshall said \u201cif it was up to\u201d him he \u201cprobably\u201d would have challenged it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t think it was that bad,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n

And to suggestions that added \u201caggression\u201d or \u201cpassion\u201d may have led to Koroisau\u2019s lengthy rap sheet this season? Marshall had a simple reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to play with aggression and passion, otherwise we shouldn\u2019t be playing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Api Koroisau sent to bin against Raiders | 00:31<\/p>\n

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart had a very different perspective to Marshall when asked about the refereeing performance after the game despite being on the losing side.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought that was great refereeing in regards to the six-agains, because he was pinging players from both teams in regards to what\u2019s penalty-worthy,\u201d Stuart said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s how the game should be played\u2026 I thought he did a good job.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tigers coach Benji Marshall has taken aim at the \u201cinconsistency of the refereeing\u201d in the NRL, passionately defending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625867,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-625866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}