There is a lot more money in the Aussie game. They can do without us but can we do without them? For some years now they have unilaterally changed the rules to which they play without any sanction from us because we have no influence over what they do. Ultimately I think they will get their way and it may be a good thing because nobody can put up refereeing standards in this country as the yardstick for imitation.
From what I saw the play the ball was much tidier when there was an Australian ref officiating and the players on all teams knew they could take liberties when Bentham was in charge. These guys and the coaches study the refs and look for any weakness they can exploit. Bentham bends over backwards to explain himself to the players which IMO encourages players disputing decisions and distracts his attention from what is going on. Give me an Eric Clay any day when all the players know who was running the game and dissent would be dealt with. After all he is refereeing a RL game not running a debating society.
Maybe with 2 refs more foul play, including late hits on the kicker, will be dealt with instead of the lottery of inconsistently just penalising the offence of the month as laid down by Mr Cummings and his "protocols"