Knights v Bulldogs: Did Ashley Klein in the Bunker forget the on-field call of 'no try'?

Tom Naghten

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Knights v Bulldogs: Did Ashley Klein in the Bunker forget the on-field call of 'no try'? image

Canterbury winger Reimis Smith was awarded a try by the Bunker in the late stages of his side's away win over Newcastle on Friday night, but viewers and commentators were left confused by the decision.

Smith flew high above Hymel Hunt to juggle a kick before appearing to ground the football.


Referee Matt Cecchin sent the decision upstairs with an on-field decision of 'no try'.

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Ashley Klein was in the Bunker and took several minutes to review the footage before saying he was supporting the live decision, despite the view of the grounding being obscured.

Commentators speculated that there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the decision of 'no try', though Klein was happy to award the four-pointer, with some suggesting he had forgotten what the on-field call was.


After the match, the Fox League panel discussed the decision.

"For them to overturn that, there needs to be sufficient evidence that he did hold and there was no bobble and there was no hand in there from a Knights player," Corey Parker said.

"From our view, there wasn't enough evidence so you would have gone with the on-field decision from Matt Cecchin of no try."

"It looked hard to overturn," added Mark Gasnier.

That try and the subsequent conversion put the visitors up by 12 points at McDonald Jones Stadium, the Dogs capitalising on the extra man advantage after James Gavet was sent to the sinbin for a late hit on Chris Smith.

Shaun Kenny-Dowall then got one back for the home side shortly after to make for a nervous final few minutes for the Bulldogs.

In the end, Dean Pay's side ran out six-point winners, to bring up their second straight win and hand the Knights a second home loss on the trot.

Tom Naghten

Tom Naghten Photo

Tom Naghten is a senior editor at The Sporting News Australia where he's been part of the team since 2017. He predominantly covers boxing and MMA. In his spare time, he likes to watch Robbie Ahmat's goal against the Kangaroos at the SCG in 2000.