{"id":696283,"date":"2026-05-26T19:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696283\/"},"modified":"2026-05-26T19:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T19:20:23","slug":"why-nrl-referee-ashley-klein-is-the-best-choice-for-state-of-origin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/696283\/","title":{"rendered":"Why NRL referee Ashley Klein is the best choice for State of Origin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Origin referee Ashley Klein has been urged to put the whistle away and let the Maroons and Blues battle it out in old school slugfest instead of the NRL\u2019s current six-again obsession.<\/p>\n

Klein will officiate his 21st Origin fixture on Wednesday night in the series-opener at Accor Stadium in Sydney.<\/p>\n

There are fears the game\u2019s showpiece event could be ruined by constant infringements which have plagued the NRL this season and contributed to blowout scores.<\/p>\n

The Broncos were on the wrong end of a 9-0 first half penalty count under Klein at Magic Round recently, while the Blues copped a 8-0 first half mauling in Origin II last year.<\/p>\n

However, statistics provided by Fox Sports Lab show Klein is near the bottom of the ladder when it comes to awarding penalties and set restarts this season.<\/p>\n

In 11 NRL matches this season, Klein has averaged 17.5 infringements per game.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Adam Gee is averaging 20.8 penalties and set restarts while last season\u2019s top ref Grant Atkins (19.6) is second on the list.<\/p>\n

Of the NRL\u2019s regular referees, only emerging whistleblower Wyatt Raymond (16.2) is averaging fewer infringements per game than Klein.<\/p>\n

Former Blues captain Jake Trbojevic hopes Klein stays out of the contest and lets the NRL\u2019s top players go at each other in what\u2019s expect to be a sodden clash.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope it\u2019s old school and they let them go set-for-set and see who\u2019s the best,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what State of Origin is about.<\/p>\n

\u201cA few \u2018six-agains\u2019 in Origin \u2026 it\u2019s hard enough as it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon we let it go set-for-set then it\u2019s almost like a boxing match. We\u2019ll see who\u2019s there at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Queensland coach Billy Slater is expecting the match to be officiated like the NRL has been this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the day, players have habits that they practise regularly and referees are the same,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really hard to turn on a dime and swivel and change the way that you perform your role.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe referees and the NRL will be thinking the game will be how it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game\u2019s not refereed how it was back in the 90s. In the 90s it was refereed how the NRL was, and I think that\u2019ll be the same now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new rules and interpretations have been a polarising topic with fans and players.<\/p>\n

Maroons captain Harry Grant scoffed when asked how he thought Origin would be officiated.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you got an idea?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I say won\u2019t change anything. We\u2019ll just try and play the game to what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Maroons have plenty of strike in the likes of Kalyn Ponga and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow that they will need to unleash to beat the Blues.<\/p>\n

Grant denied Melbourne\u2019s struggles this season were in part due to the officiating changes, but said defence wasn\u2019t as important as in previous years.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look over the course of the last 20 years, usually the top two defensive teams go on to win the comp,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might have been an exception last year, but the Broncos really finetuned their defence for their back half of the year and they would have been right up there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely an attacking game now. You see how many points are scored.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that\u2019s a good thing, I\u2019m not sure. We\u2019ll let the people at home and you guys decide that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Travis<\/a>Travis Meyn<\/a>Sports reporter<\/p>\n

Travis Meyn is a sports reporter in Queensland covering the NRL in winter and cricket in summer. Travis has been reporting on sport for more than a decade in the Sunshine State and is one of the NRL’s leading journalists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Origin referee Ashley Klein has been urged to put the whistle away and let the Maroons and Blues…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":696284,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[20426,64,63,689,339469,11170,264995,17928,339470,339465,339467,2105,83670,4552,40549,761,762,673,158,677,339473,339472,262624,111236,339468,339471,85,339466,670,60861,339474],"class_list":["post-696283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-adam-gee","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-awarding-penalties","tag-billy-slater","tag-blowout-scores","tag-boxing-match","tag-constant-infringements","tag-divisive-referee","tag-fears-state","tag-getty-images-inc","tag-grant-atkins","tag-jake-trbojevic","tag-job-interview","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-officiating-changes","tag-regular-referees","tag-set-restarts","tag-showpiece-event","tag-six-again-obsession","tag-sodden-clash","tag-sports","tag-statistics-show","tag-sydney","tag-top-players","tag-top-ref"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696283","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=696283"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/696283\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/696284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=696283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=696283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=696283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}