Two referees from last weekend’s Junior Representatives Grand Finals – Gage Miles and Mitchell Pitscheider – have been graded into the NSWRL Major Competitions squad and will begin match duties this weekend.
Miles handled the UNE Harold Matthews Cup (Under 17s) decider won by the Warriors 34-16 over Canterbury-Bankstown, while Pitscheider was in the middle for the UNE SG Ball Cup Grand Final (Under 19s) won by the St George Dragons 40-18 over the Bulldogs.
NSWRL Referees High Performance Manager Stuart Raper said Miles would now become graded No.1038 and Pitscheider would be No.1039.
“Historically this is a significant moment for referees to be given a NSWRL referees graded number,” Raper said.
“They treasure that like when players coming into first grade receive a NRL club number, or referees becoming a NRL match official are given their number as well.
“Of course, they still have to maintain their position in the graded squad, but it’s the next step on the pathway to officiating.”
Both Miles, from the Canberra Referees Association, and Pitscheider from the South Sydney association, begin that next phase in Round Nine action this weekend. (Photo above L-R: Stuart Raper, Gage Miles, Mitchell Pitscheider, Jared Maxwell)
Pitscheider will handle the Jersey Flegg Under 21s game between the Bulldogs and Wests Tigers at Belmore Oval tonight (Friday 4 May), with Miles in charge of the Jersey Flegg match between Melbourne Storm and the Sydney Roosters tomorrow (Saturday 4 May).
“Both Gage and Mitchell have been officiating in a lot of SG Ball games and the players are only two years younger than Jersey Flegg so the standard is similar,” Raper said.
“They will handle it comfortably as they’ve been in our Junior Reps referee’s system with Gavin Badger for three or four years.
“We had nominated a 10-member train-on squad from our Junior Reps squad and these two have been top of the tree, so to speak, of that.
“We’re now able to bring them into the next level up – our High-Performance Squad – which means they will train with us and be available for our major competitions like Jersey Flegg, Sydney Shield, the Leagues Clubs Australia Ron Massey Cup and The Knock-On Effect NSW Cup.”
Miles and Pitscheider were presented with their numbers at a joint training session this week between the NSWRL High Performance Squad and NRL Elite Referees squad at NSWRL’s Centre of Excellence at Sydney Olympic Park.
Raper and NRL General Manager of Elite Officiating, Jared Maxwell, made the presentations.
