Under-fire referee Gavin Badger has been axed this week after his controversial send-off of Dragons prop Jason Ryles, which had been described as "a joke" by rugby league greats.
Less than 24 hours after sending off Ryles for kicking opposing front rower Jeff Lima during a scrum in Monday's clash between Melbourne and St George Illawarra, Badger has been dropped from the NRL by referees boss Robert Finch.
Dragons coach Nathan Brown slammed Badger's decision after the match, saying it "ruined" a good game of football, while Sharks and Australian Test coach Ricky Stuart described it as "unnecessary", "embarrassing" and "a joke".
Former international Steve Roach has labelled the send-off call "the worst decision I have ever seen" in today's column for
Rugbyleaguelive.com.
The send-off followed an on-field brawl that resulted in three players being sent to the sin bin. Two of those - Melbourne's Billy Slater and the Dragons' Beau Scott - have been charged with contrary conduct by the NRL's match review committee.
Scott faces a one-match ban, while Slater could be suspended for two weeks after being charged with a grade-two offence.