When reffing starts to get ugly

Rugby league's refereeing dramas spilled over literally on Sunday night, with leading whistleblower Tony Archer having beer cups thrown at him after fulltime in the Newcastle-South Sydney game at Aussie Stadium.

The supporters' show of anger was the culmination of another weekend in which the NRL's match officials were put under the microscope by fans and media alike.

Archer was roundly jeered by Souths fans as he left the field following Newcastle's 31-22 win over the Rabbitohs, with several supporters throwing plastic cups - including one containing beer - at the referee.

NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley said he was unaware of any incident but would investigate further on Monday.

"Security of our officials is important in any match," Annesley said.

"I don't know what security measures were in place. I'll have to wait until I get the ground manager's report."

It was another mixed weekend for the whistleblowers, who have been under increasing pressure over the past fortnight following a series of calamitous mistakes.

Things got off to a poor start on Friday night when video referee Steve Clark and referee Paul Simpkins mixed up the tackle count during the Bulldogs' win over Penrith at Telstra Stadium.

Confusion reigned in the opening half when 'Dogs captain Steve Price was held up over the line, with Clark telling Simpkins to resume the tackle count on five - it should have been the second.

"It's obviously the referees responsibility to adjudicate on the tackle count but obviously with many things happening there needs to be a checking situation there and the video referee does that as well," referees boss Robert Finch said on Channel Nine.

"He makes sure that he covers the tackle count and if he's not sure he can then confer three, four, five, whatever.

"I think the video referee there is (culpable) because he sent the wrong tackle count down to the referee.

"There's been a system in place for many years - and the system broke down through human error.

"We might have to do some counting practice going forward from this."

South Sydney coach Arthur Kitinas questioned two calls that went against his side.

The first involved a Joe Williams kick which was ruled out on the full by the linesman and the second involving centre Lee Hookey, who swooped on a ball lost by Newcastle fullback Robbie O'Davis.

Archer called Hookey back, ruling O'Davis had lost the ball after he had called held and packing a scrum.

"It was in," Kitinas said of the Williams kick.

"I don't know if it was line-ball. We got a lot of 50-50 calls that didn't go our way. We're not the sort of team that can play around that.

"We need those 50-50 calls to go our way and I think that was a major factor and contributor to the game."

At Brookvale Oval, Canberra captain Simon Woolford questioned the NRL's crackdown on players abusing match officials.

"I saw cases of it last night," Woolford said.

"So whether they're going to allow it or step on it and get rid of it, I don't know."

Finch went into bat for his embattled referees.

"There's no doubt the one on Friday night was a basic error, there's no doubt about that," he said.

"But the scrutiny on referees today is just enormous. It's a tough gig."