THE feedback Canberra Raiders Cup sides are getting back from referees in the competition is coming too slow and lacking substance.
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These are the views of Queanbeyan's rugby league head coaches in Simon Woolford and Aaron Gorrell, who both attended a meeting on Monday last week at the Raiders Belconnen club to discuss these communication issues and come up with ways to solve them.
It came after Goulburn Workers Bulldogs coach Mick Picker blasted local referees after his side's 22-12 loss to the Queanbeyan Blues in round eight, labelling the refereeing "substandard".
Queanbeyan Blues coach Woolford said he raised the issue of the referees association taking too long in getting back to clubs on what decisions they would be making in certain areas of the game.
"There's a level of frustration there at the moment, and I think a lot of it is coming from the lack of feedback we're getting from the referees regarding some of the decisions and goings on at the weekend," he said.
Queanbeyan Kangaroos coach Gorrell was far more vocal on the issue, saying that any process to fix communication between referees and clubs was pointless unless they started being held accountable.
"To see the head of referees come out in the paper a couple of days later and say that he was surprised with how little the coaches came up with, well, there was not one happy coach at that meeting," he said.
"It's all about consistency...we were there for two hours, and it was a full on two hours of raising issues, so for him to come out and say that speaks a lot for how they're run and how much they're entitled to accept.
"I won't be holding my breath to see drastic changes any time soon unless there's changes in them."
The referees association said during the meeting they would strive to provide video feedback from referees to clubs more efficiently, as well as send referees to team training sessions to work with coaches.