The whistleblower elected to referee the State of Origin opener has hosed down what he says is “a real myth” concerning the hotly debated Bunker.
When asked on radio about communication between the referee, touch judges and the Bunker, Ashley Klein delivered a clear explanation of how the various officials team up.
Former New South Wales captain Paul Gallen posed the question, alluding to the widely held view that the Bunker has too much control over what happens on the field.
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“It’s a real myth out there that the Bunker talks throughout the course of a game,” Klein said on 2GB’s Wide World of Sports radio.
“The Bunker really only talks when invited into the game via a challenge or a video referral, and when confirming a try they’ll come in.
“They don’t communicate in the live running of play. The only person that’s communicating in the live running of play is actually the touch judges.
“The only time the Bunker can come in is to correct the tackle count… that’s to fix something that they’ve heard is wrong.
“But, yeah, it’s just the touch judges and the referee speaking in the live running of play.”
Gallen loved what he’d heard.
“There’s such a concept… that the Bunker’s constantly talking in their ear. That would absolutely kill me,” Gallen said.
“(Can you) imagine trying to referee a game of footy and someone’s in your ear telling you what to do? It would drive you mad.
“So thankfully that doesn’t happen. That’s a myth expelled.”
Klein is set to referee his ninth Origin clash and his first since game three of the 2019 series.
He officiated with Shayne Hayne in his first two Origin appearances and Gerard Sutton in the other six.
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Sutton is the only man to have officiated an Origin game since the return of the one-referee system in 2020, but Klein has beaten him to the position for this year’s opener.
Klein is hoping for a free-flowing game, set to be played at Sydney’s Stadium Australia next Wednesday night.
“That’s every referee’s goal for every game, really, is to not be involved,” Klein said.
“It is really dictated to by what the players deliver.
“I think it’s important that you’re being fair and that no team is getting an unfair advantage, and if that does happen then the referee has to step in.
“Ideally, I don’t want to be involved because the sides are just getting on with it and playing a brand of footy that doesn’t require the official to have to step in.
“But at the end of the day no side can be getting any unfair advantage.”
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