Updated ,first published
Sydney Roosters forward Nat Butcher should not have been penalised for a high tackle, Melbourne were denied a legitimate try, and Manly’s Reuben Garrick was offside when he scored against the Titans.
Aside from those three clangers, the NRL was more than satisfied with a string of other controversial calls made by referees and the bunker over the weekend.
This masthead pinpointed at least seven contentious calls in five games that were heavily criticised by coaches, players and commentators.
They did not include queries St George Illawarra had with Valentine Holmes being penalised for an obstruction and Setu Tu being denied a try by a bunker ruling.
We revealed the bunker’s decision-making efficiency rate sat at an impressive 98 per cent just a month ago.
But fans have been in the dark about the reasoning behind refereeing calls since the NRL scrapped head of football Graham Annesley’s weekly press conference a couple of years ago. In the hope of achieving some clarity, we asked the NRL for its thoughts about the weekend calls.
Were Penrith robbed?
The Panthers thought they had won a repeat set – and a chance to win the game – with two minutes of Thursday night’s match left after Brisbane’s Josiah Karapani was dragged into touch.
Referee Todd Smith ruled a knock-on, which Penrith successfully challenged – but the bunker ruled Smith had blown the whistle before Karapani was taken into touch. Because it was a “mutual infringement”, Karapani was instructed to play the ball, rather than Penrith receive the ball back.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary said after the game: “If we get the ball there, and we should have got it … it’s just one of those nights”.
The NRL, however, formed the view the decision was technically correct because the whistle was blown simultaneously as Karapani was being pushed into touch. If anything, Penrith could have been penalised for the second effort.
Roosters Butchered
Coaches Trent Robinson and Craig Bellamy both took issue with a few calls during Friday night’s Storm-Roosters clash.
Robinson was stunned Butcher was penalised for a high tackle on Alec MacDonald, which allowed Melbourne to march downfield and score two minutes later.
“It was completely laughable,” Robinson said of the penalty. The NRL agreed it should not have been given.
Did Warbrick knock on?
Bellamy could not understand why the Storm were denied a try in the first half, when Will Warbrick appeared to knock a ball back from a kick, only for Gerard Sutton to rule it a knock-on.
Bellamy broke into one of his famous colourful rants in the coach’s box.
After several slow-motion reviews, the NRL were satisfied Warbrick got his hand in front of the ball and knocked it back.
Walker shot clock
Roosters halfback Sam Walker appeared to have taken a dropout after the shot-clock buzzer sounded in the 67th minute, which would have given Melbourne a penalty kick from in front to level the scores.
“Six to eight weeks ago, we got done for taking too long with a line drop-out,” Bellamy said.
But the NRL was satisfied the Walker kick and shot-clock buzzer were simultaneous, so Sutton was entitled to wave play-on. Similar situations occur on occasions with scrum-clocks.
Was Dom Young taken out?
Cronulla opened their account against the Knights with a try to Will Kennedy on Friday evening, but Ronnie Mulitalo appeared to deny Newcastle winger Dominic Young a fair chance at leaping for the ball.
Braydon Trindall sent the ball up, Mulitalo chased, but barely got off the ground – yet still did enough to impede Young.
The NRL was comfortable Mulitalo had not taken his eyes off the ball, never looked at Young and had both arms extended in a catching position before he jumped, which meant there was a genuine contest, and no need to rule a “disruptor” penalty.
Red V see red
The Dragons have worked hard to address their sluggish second-half starts, so you could forgive them for being cranky when the Warriors went ahead in the 44th minute via Dallin Watene-Zelezniak from what they felt was a forward pass.
“It’s just not right,” co-captain Damien Cook said. “I feel sorry for the fans that have to watch that. But it’s happened too many times to us.”
The NRL was comfortable it was not a forward pass, and other camera angles not shown on the live broadcast supported this view.
Did Garrick jump the gun?
Titans skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui made a beeline for referee Adam Gee after Reuben Garrick scored for Manly in the second half, wanting to know if the Manly centre was offside.
“It happened to Max Plath in Origin, that was the call; are you serious?” Fa’asuamaleaui asked Gee, referring to the Maroons being denied a try in similar circumstances in Origin III only a few weeks earlier.
The decision did not cost the Gold Coast the win – and just as well, because the NRL, based on the available footage, believed Garrick was “marginally offside”.
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