{"id":608203,"date":"2026-09-22T13:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-22T13:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/608203\/"},"modified":"2026-09-22T13:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T13:52:12","slug":"klein-almost-dropped-butler-survives-grand-final-shootout-revealed-nrl-preliminary-final-referees-and-match-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/608203\/","title":{"rendered":"Klein almost dropped, Butler survives, grand final shootout revealed: NRL preliminary final referees and match officials"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The referee appointments for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrlw\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRLW<\/a> preliminary finals have been confirmed, with Ashley Klein dropped after last weekend&#8217;s howler in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/new-zealand-warriors\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">New Zealand Warriors&#8217;<\/a> loss to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/newcastle-knights\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newcastle Knights<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s not the first time Klein has been axed at this stage of the season, although he will remain involved in the weekend, with the veteran match official to work the bunker in the Friday night preliminary final as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/dolphins\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Dolphins<\/a> tackle the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/sydney-roosters\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sydney Roosters<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Adam Gee will referee that match, with the man thought of as the fourth official coming into the finals now in the driver&#8217;s seat for the grand final after being retained last weekend ahead of Grant Atkins and Gerard Sutton.<\/p>\n<p>Sutton has won the race ahead of Atkins to replace Klein, with the seven-time <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRL<\/a> Grand Final referee to take the whistle for the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/penrith-panthers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Penrith Panthers<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrl\/teams\/newcastle-knights\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newcastle Knights<\/a> clash.<\/p>\n<p>Sutton and Gee are now effectively the only two referees who can claim the grand final, with Gee also having experienced the first Sunday in October previously when he took charge of the 2023 decider between the Panthers and Broncos.<\/p>\n<p>Chris Butler has surprisingly been kept in the bunker despite having plenty of blame alongside Klein for the final minutes of the Warriors and Knights clash last weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Matt Noyen, Daniel Luttringer, Phil Henderson and Tyson Brough retain the four touch judge positions for the weekend, while the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.zerotackle.com\/nrlw\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NRLW<\/a> match officials are also unchanged from last weekend&#8217;s fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>NRL preliminary final match officials<br \/>\nThe Dolphins vs Sydney Roosters<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Adam Gee<br \/>Touch judges: Phil Henderson and Tyson Brough<br \/>Bunker officials: Ashley Klein<\/p>\n<p>Penrith Panthers vs Newcastle Knights<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Gerard Sutton<br \/>Touch judges: Matt Noyen and Daniel Luttringer<br \/>Bunker officials: Chris Butler<\/p>\n<p>NRLW preliminary finals<br \/>\nSydney Roosters vs Canberra Raiders<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Kadey Badger<br \/>Touch judges: Rochelle Tamarua and Tori Wilkie<br \/>Bunker officials: Liam Kennedy<\/p>\n<p>Gold Coast Titans vs Brisbane Broncos<\/p>\n<p>Referee: Belinda Sharpe<br \/>Touch judges: Karra-Lee Nolan and Izzy Davidson<br \/>Bunker officials: Todd Smiths<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The referee appointments for the NRL and NRLW preliminary finals have been confirmed, with Ashley Klein dropped after&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":608204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-608203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=608203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/608203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/608204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=608203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=608203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=608203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}