NRL Round 14: Graham Annesley admits costly refereeing blunders against Tigers, Dragons

Liam O'Loughlin

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NRL Round 14: Graham Annesley admits costly refereeing blunders against Tigers, Dragons image

Graham Annesley has admitted the officials got two major calls wrong in Round 14 clashes - and both of them proved costly for the league's bottom-two clubs.

Wests Tigers and St George Illawarra Dragons both missed out on a much-needed two points over the weekend in narrow losses, and the latest admission from the NRL's head of football elite competitions won't help change their fortunes. 

In the opening game of the round on Friday night, Canberra came away with a 20-19 victory at Campbelltown Stadium - but one of their tries should have been a penalty after Luke Brooks was tackled without the ball.

On Sunday night's final game of the round, Penrith snuck away with a 26-18 win over the Dragons at BlueBet Stadium, but a controversial call by Chris Sutton hindered the Dragons' chances of taking the lead during the second half.

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Luke Brooks should have been awarded penalty against Raiders

During the second half of the Tigers' loss to the Raiders, Brooks was pushed over in the lead-up to Jamal Fogarty's try, but the incident was somehow cleared by the Bunker. 

Annesley revealed front-rower Emre Guler should have been penalised for the incident and the try should not have been awarded to the visitors.

“We’ve got Brooks turning to chase, there’s a collision between the two of them and Brooks hits the deck as Fogarty comes through and takes the ball," he said during Monday's weekly football briefing.

"Clearly there’s a collision… but in this particular case, it’s that push and extension of the arms that turns this into what I consider to be an illegal action that should have been acted upon.

"This wasn’t missed by the Bunker, it was reviewed – the view by the Bunker was that Brooks stops competing for the ball. There’s no rule in the book that says you need to keep running at a certain speed

"In my view, this was an error by the Bunker and the try shouldn’t have been awarded."

Annesley did however clear the penalty awarded to Fogarty in the dying stages, pointing to previous examples of the tackle from Isaiah Papali'i on the Canberra halfback.

Dragons robbed of potential try by referee blunder

The other major mistake from the referees over the weekend cost the Dragons dearly, with a crucial knock-on call leading to Penrith's ultimately game-deciding try in the second half.

Interim coach Ryan Carr raised concerns over the process undertaken by the on-field officials and Annesley echoed those sentiments during his weekly briefing. 

"That’s exactly right… he got a late call from his touchjudge, which is absolutely correct," Annesley said.

"The referee in this particular incident had clear vision. This is not an incident where it’s on the blindside of the referee and he may not have seen something happen… the referee clearly saw the incident and clearly rules that it’s knocked back.

"Instead of backing his own judgement… he takes the advice of the touchjudge and pulls the play up and we know in the next set after that stoppage, a try was scored [by the Panthers].

"It’s clearly an incorrect decision – the disappointing thing about this, for the referee himself is that he made the right decision and was talked out of it by someone else.

"Had he stuck with his initial reaction and the ruling he had already made, I wouldn’t be standing here talking about it."

Liam O'Loughlin

Liam O'Loughlin Photo

Liam has been with The Sporting News since 2019, helping lead both NRL and cricket content, as well as delving into the world of combat sports and NFL. A true rugby league tragic, he has spent the past 20 years playing, coaching and volunteering for his beloved junior club, Penshurst RSL. 

Away from work, Liam has a lifelong passion for all things pro wrestling and has travelled abroad to attend showcase events for WWE, AEW and NJPW.