‘This is not a gender issue’: Players out of line but not sexist, says NRL

“In this particular case, Kasey is in [charge] of her third NRL game, she’s a rookie referee, and players will try to test rookie referees, regardless of gender. They’ll see how far they can push them.

“Referees accept they’ll be tested, but we have to know where that line in the sand is, and not overstep that mark. It can incite the fans. She’ll learn an enormous amount from that game.”

Sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly on Badger’s behalf confirmed she had started to close her social media accounts before games, only to re-activate them 48 hours afterwards. Badger even shut down her accounts when she was officiating in the bunker.

The same sources also confirmed the level of abuse she had received was nowhere near the amount of vitriol her husband, former whistleblower Gavin Badger, had received during his time as a first-grade referee.

Loading

Badger received more than 50 direct messages over the weekend. At one stage on X, Badger was trending in the No. 1 slot for Australian sport.

The constant abuse, which around 90 per cent of the time is sexist in nature, said the confidential sources, had left Badger on more than one occasion questioning why females would want to follow her path.

Sezer has been banned for four matches for a dangerous tackle, but it was not a hip-drop, said Annesley, who added the bunker should have helped Badger by sin-binning Sezer.

Asked whether Badger would be retained in this weekend’s referee appointments, Annesley said, “None of those decisions have even been contemplated at this point”.

“I don’t think anyone should jump to conclusions about that; Kasey is a strong person,” he said.

Another contentious call over the weekend was the decision not to award New Zealand Warriors’ winger Dallin Watene-Zelezniak a penalty try after he was tackled in the air by Newcastle’s Greg Marzhew while trying to score.

Annesley said the bunker needed to be comfortable Watene-Zelezniak “would have scored a try, not could have scored a try”, which is why a penalty was ruled sufficient.

NRL is Live and Free on Channel 9 & 9Now