NRL axes referee Kennedy after penalty-riddled performance
Emerging referee Liam Kennedy has been stood down ahead of the Easter Weekend's fixtures after the NRL held talks with the Gold Coast Titans after a chaotic 28-infringement match descended into farce.
Kennedy will sit out Round 5 after his handling of last Sunday's Titans-Dragons contest drew widespread condemnation.
He called 17 penalties and 11 set restarts throughout the error-strewn encounter, drawing fury from the 12,241 spectators at Cbus Super Stadium.
Season averages currently sit at 20.06 infringements per game across 32 matches - Sunday's clash ran nearly 50 per cent above that benchmark. The NRL insists Kennedy's absence from the round 5 schedule is consistent with its referee rotation framework, though his recent outings have attracted mounting scrutiny.
Newcastle officials were incensed after Kennedy's round 3 performance, where an 11-4 penalty differential against the Knights contributed to a 38-12 defeat to the Warriors. Home supporters booed the officials from the field at half-time.
Gold Coast also harboured grievances from round 2, when the Dolphins stormed back from 14-0 down to snatch an 18-14 victory on the back of a string of second-half calls that swung momentum toward Redcliffe.
The 2026 season has been clouded by widespread anger from supporters, players and coaches, with six-agains surging following off-season rule tweaks. Fox Sports Lab data shows infringements have climbed 20.5 per cent year-on-year. Penalty counts have stayed broadly steady, but set restarts have exploded 67 per cent — from 5.88 per game in 2025 to 9.81.
Despite claiming a 22-14 result over the Dragons, the Titans sought answers from the NRL on Tuesday before Kennedy's omission was confirmed. Gold Coast benefitted from an 8-3 advantage in set restarts but were penalised 10-7 and had two tries disallowed.
Titans football boss Scott Sattler said the dialogue had been constructive.
“The NRL have created a process where clubs can inquire about decisions they want further answers on,” he said.
“It’s a streamlined system where you can inquire about those decisions. We felt as though even in a winning game there were some situations we wanted clarity on. The NRL, to their credit, have given us clarity on some of those calls.
"It’s easy to complain if you are not winning, but it’s more important for the development of officials that even when you do win that there’s still some areas of improvement.”
The Australian Rugby League Commission approved a rule amendment shifting the set restart zone from the 40-metre line back to the 20, intended to accelerate play and limit interruptions - though early results suggest the opposite effect.
Hero image: Queensland Rugby League
