The retired Cronulla great says he feels sorry for the modern-day whistle blowers who are now playing second fiddle to the bunker, and he wonders when it will ever stop.
"There's just that much technology at the moment, that many people in the referee's ears. They've got so much going on. I can't imagine how hard it must be," Gallen told AAP.
"I want to see the referee and the touch judge referee the game. Bring the video ref in for try-scoring situations and just let the refs control it. Let them have total control.
"You need to understand that they're human beings. There's going to be errors. But there's human beings controlling the bunker too and they're still making errors too."
Three-time NRL grand final referee Ashley Klein on Monday was effectively dropped for missing a key penalty that would have given the Warriors a relatively easy shot at goal to likely force extra time in their season-ending 12-10 loss to Newcastle on Sunday.
Ironically, Klein will instead be in the bunker for Friday night's Dolphins versus Sydney Roosters preliminary final, seemingly giving the 47-year-old even more control than Adam Gee, the man in the middle at Suncorp Stadium.
Asked if he thought robots and AI might one day take over officiating, Gallen said: "It might not be too far away, who knows?
"I don't want to see it get to that. I want to see referees out there actually refereeing the game.
"There's so much technology in the game. The bunker's doing everything."
Everything, but not always getting it right.
Gallen would prefer officials get back to basics and he's still scratching his head over why Daly Cherry-Evans wasn't at least sin-binned for tripping Cronulla forward Teig Wilton in the Roosters' elimination of the Sharks last Saturday night.
"It used to be a send-off," Gallen said of the once-forbidden offence.
"It's sad, it seems to be accepted now and it seems to happen more and more. I don't know when it became acceptable because 20, 30 years ago it was frowned upon as a cardinal sin and you'd be sent off.
"You'd be looked down upon even in your own dressing room."
While Gallen doesn't believe the Cherry Evans incident cost the Sharks the match, he feels the Roosters not being down a man for 10 minutes - or more - denied Cronulla an opportunity to get back into the contest.
"It probably wasn't going to be a penalty try because (James) Tedesco was right there, but it should have been the sin bin," said the Sharks' only premiership-winning captain.
"Remember (Braydon) Trindall dropped the ball over the line just after that. The score could have been 24-16 against 12 men. Then who knows?
"But it didn't happen."
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