The referees that allowed play to continue while Nene Macdonald was down with a fractured ankle will be relegated this week, the NRL has announced.

NRL head of elite football Graham Annesley confirmed whistleblowers Grant Atkins and Gavin Badger have been demoted.

“It’s important for me to say that as an administration, we didn’t find that acceptable, that it took as long as it did for the game to stop,” Annesley said.