The Eels’ playmaker received a three-week punishment for the incident, while Hutchison spent several days in the hospital.
The NRL’s decision to punish Robinson is even more confusing given that the NRL’s own head of football, Graham Annesley, was scathing of the match officials the next day and sacked Bunker Review Official Steve Chiddy for the remainder of Round 9.
“Referees Coach Jared Maxwell and I spoke at length right after the game last night,” Annesley stated in a statement on Saturday morning.
“While we cannot comment on specific instances that may be subject to the match review process, Jared and I were quite upset with a number of judgments made during the game.
“As a result, the bunker officials involved,”were scheduled to officiate again tonight, but have been replaced.
“Last night’s performance did not meet our expectations.”
When the news of Robinson’s reported fine broke on Wednesday evening, fans quickly condemned it.Robinson did not identify names, but he chastised the entire officiating crew and the NRL Bunker for their handling of an incident that left five-eighth Drew Hutchison hospitalized.
Eels five-eighth Dylan Brown led with his knees, attempting to save a try as Hutchison went for the line in the 40th minute of the Round 9 match.
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Brown was placed on report around 20 minutes after the incident and did not notify Robinson about the decision until the players were rushing back on.
