Following some questionable calls made against Newcastle that went against the Parramatta Eels, the NRL is once again being questioned about the general caliber of officiating and laws. Even though Mitchell Moses put on his second incredible performance in three days, the Knights prevailed 34–26 in Newcastle.
Blaize Talagi was declared to have knocked the ball on while scoring a try, which left the Eels fuming over several other calls that went against them. Replays revealed that Talagi’s hand never left contact with the ball, even though he first grounded the ball short of the line before momentum took control.
However, Talagi was declared to have “rolled” the ball over the try-line by the Bunker official, meaning that it was a knock-on. With the ball appearing short of the line in one frame and on the line in the next, the decision was virtually a coin flip. Talagi’s hand was still on the ball in both frames, and many people thought it was a fair try.
“I think that’s good as long as his body stays in,” Greg Alexander stated in a Fox Sports commentary. “He simply maintains his arm on the ball at all times; he never lets go of it. Oh no! There, give it a shot!
Andrew Voss pointed out that Bunker official Wyatt Raymond was very quick to make his decision, rather than taking his time to have a good look at what happened. It seemed like another instance of the Bunker agreeing with the on-field call (which was no try) rather than actually making a decision for themselves.
“We thought that was a try,” Eels coach Trent Barrett said after the game. “There’s a few dubious decisions each week but we’re just not getting them at the moment, but we need them. It’s not a great position we’re in at the minute, and we needed that one.”
The call proved extremely costly for the Eels, as the score remained 16-16 rather than putting them up 20-16 with 20 minutes to play. The Eels went on to lose by eight, but only because they were throwing caution to the wind in the dying stages because they were trailing.
I watched the game with a Knights supporter, and we agreed that the officiating was horrendous for both teams.
I would be interested in hearing from Annesley regarding many of those decisions.
Clint Gutherson questions referee over collision
It wasn’t the only contentious incident to go against the Eels, with Clint Gutherson appearing to be impeded by referee Peter Gough in the lead-up to a Newcastle try. Gutherson collided with Gough as he was running across field to try and shut down an attacking raid, and ended up arriving a fraction too late to prevent Greg Marzhew from scoring.
Gutherson revealed after the game that Gough told him it was simply “unlucky” that they collided, but the Eels could have had a case for the try to be disallowed. In Round 1, the Bulldogs were denied a try because Braydon Trindall collided with referee Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamskiwhile trying to stop Viliame Kikau from scoring. However the NRL later admitted that call was wrong.
“I was asking what was the go there, I could have got there a step earlier and maybe made the tackle,” Gutherson said in the post-match press conference. “But I was just asking, but that’s the way it went.
“That’s footy… he just said it is one of those things, it’s an accident. I’m trying my best to get to the corner and make a tackle but that’s not what cost us the game, it’s other things at the moment.”
Ricky Stuart takes swipe at ‘guessing’ referee
And the Eels weren’t alone in their criticism of the referees, with Canberra coach Ricky Stuart also taking a swipe at the officials after their 16-6 loss to Melbourne. The Raiders lost the penalty count 5-4 and gave away six set restarts to the Storm’s four.
“We were on the wrong side of the guessing game again,” Stuart said. “They’re just guessing mate. Those six agains, they’re just guessing – ‘I’ll give one away here, I’ll give one away there’.”
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