Referee Round-up: 'Highly respected' Collins gets NRLW debut
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It was the promotion Queensland match official coach Vic Collins never saw coming.
Collins, who works for the Queensland Rugby League’s referee High Performance Unit and is president of the Sunshine Coast and Gympie Rugby League Referees Association, was called up to the NRLW on Sunday March 27, taking on the role of match day coach for the Round 5 clash between the Gold Coast Titans and Newcastle Knights at Suncorp Stadium.
It was a momentous occasion for Collins, who has been a match official coach for 13 years and made his officiating debut at 15.
But he also said it was a career development he wouldn’t have predicted for 2022.
It was QRL state match officials manager Clayton Sharpe who delivered the news to Collins on March 21, leaving him over the moon.
“It really did take me by surprise,” Collins said.
“I thought Clayton was calling to just discuss a couple of coaching points to come out of the weekend (of Hostplus Cup) but it was about the coaching opportunity for the NRLW.
“I’ve been around officiating for 25 years now and I’ve learnt that moving through this career isn’t linear. This call-up was so far off my radar. If someone had asked me a few months ago if I had been thinking of being at the NRLW level, I would have said no.”
Collins’ day started at 9am and he helped the officiating team though various aspects of the day, including warm-up, communications and general coaching and support.
While his focus will now switch back to Queensland’s statewide competitions, Collins – whose career has been influenced by the likes of Richie Johnson, Bryan Diezmann and Bruce Schmidt – said he was grateful for the experience and hoped more opportunities arrived on his doorstep later this year.
“It’s always a good experience to work at Suncorp… it is The Cauldron after all,” he said.
“It was a good opportunity to work with Queensland officials and I’d imagine there’s an argument that the NRLW is the best women’s rugby league competition in the world, so it was really quite exciting to be involved.
“Hopefully with there being the second NRLW competition later this year, there may another opportunity at that level down the track.
“But I’m really looking forward to what this Hostplus Cup season has to bring and to doing the best job we can there.”
Sharpe said Collins’ step up to the next level showed the development work being done at the QRL and throughout the state was much broader than people realised.
“When we talk about development, it’s often only match officials and the available pathway to the NRL that is in focus,” Sharpe said.
“Through our strong relationship with NRL Elite Officiating, we have been able to create an opportunity to now offer a pathway for referee coaches.
“Vic has developed his skills as a referee coach through community rugby league and statewide competitions and is a highly respected member of the QRL Match Official High Performance Unit coaching panel.”
Special milestones
Outside of Collins’ thrilling achievement, there are a number of other referees celebrating milestones.
Jack Klein and Marcus Fitzgerald – two emerging match officials within the QRL system – were handed the opportunity to run the line also for the Gold Coast Titans and Newcastle Knights NRLW showdown.
This follows the recent promotion of Nick Pelgrave, who made his NRL debut in Round 1 as a touch judge for the New Zealand Warriors and St George Illawarra clash.
Queenslanders galore
In a first for Queensland-based match officials, five referees from the Sunshine State have been appointed to NRL touch lines for Round 4.
Nick Pelgrave (Titans v Tigers), Nick Morel (Storm v Bulldogs), Jarrod Cole (Warriors v Broncos), and Tyson Brough and Michael Wise (Cowboys v Roosters), will all take to the sidelines for the round, in a massive showing for the state.
Meanwhile in the NRLW semi-finals, Tori Wilkie (Broncos v Roosters) and Kailey Beattie (Dragons v Titans) will also represent Queensland.
