The New Zealand Warriors did their best to illegally block Dolphins centre Jack Bostock from catching the high ball – but the NRL intends to punish the Sydney Roosters or Cronulla if they adopt similar tactics in next weekend’s preliminary final.
The Dolphins will return to training on Wednesday, and club officials are eager to finalise a list of concerns they want to raise with the NRL following their 26-16 qualifying final win in Auckland.
One of the Dolphins’ gripes was referee Adam Gee’s refusal to blow a penalty on three separate occasions when Bostock was run off the ball by the Warriors.
The first took place in the fifth minute, when two Warriors blocked Bostock’s path to a high ball. Approaching the half hour, Bostock was visibly frustrated when again denied a clean passage to a high ball. Gee even penalised him for a high shot.
When Bostock scored late, which involved him stripping the ball from Adam Pompey, replays showed Chanel Harris-Tavita trying to again impede his run.
NRL sources with knowledge of the situation not authorised to speak publicly confirmed all three incidents warranted penalties, including the latter had Bostock not scored.
The same sources confirmed the NRL would send a reminder to the man in charge of next weekend’s Suncorp Stadium blockbuster between the Dolphins and the winner of the Roosters and Sharks to clamp down on escorts.
The Dolphins have enjoyed plenty of success via the air with Bostock, and hope there was no repeat of the antics at Go Media Stadium.
“The rules around walls and escorts are in place so we don’t take elite catchers and elite athleticism out of the game,” Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf told this masthead.
“I’ll be contacting the NRL to find out why it was allowed to happen to Jack.
“We got the reward in the end for being consistent with what we were doing [with Bostock], but we also need to rely on the referees making the opposition abide by the rules.”
The one time Bostock was allowed to catch the ball uncontested, he almost scored again with two minutes remaining.
The NRL has vowed at different times to crack down on escorts and “disruptors”, when an attacking player leaps for a ball without making a genuine attempt to catch it, and for the sole purpose of forcing the defender into an error.
The Broncos made headlines in a game late last season when they blocked Melbourne winger Xavier Coates, and were happy to concede a penalty rather than allow him to catch it.
While Bostock poses a constant threat on the right edge, Herbie Farnworth rubber-stamped his reputation as the best centre in the competition on the Dolphins’ left with another stand-out performance against the Warriors.
There has been plenty of speculation about what Farnworth will do beyond 2027 – the Sydney Roosters have been constantly linked to the powerhouse Englishman – but the Dolphins remain confident they can keep him at Redcliffe, despite Bostock and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow also becoming potential free agents on November 1.
As for what Farnworth could do in the remainder of this finals’ series, Woolf said: “In big games you need the big players to come up with things, and that’s what Herbie did last Saturday.
“His attacking ability and nous is what he is known for, but the things that have impressed me is his defence – he’s improved as a defender and in some of the effort areas that help other players. He’s just been that high-level performer almost every game for us this year.”