NRL backtracks over three crucial calls during Warriors v Panthers game

Chris Danks

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NRL backtracks over three crucial calls during Warriors v Panthers game image

It was sloppy, to say the least.

Those are the words of NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley, after a controversial weekend of footy that left fans, former referees and commentators alike scratching their heads.

Annesley’s weekly briefing attempted to clarify some of the more contentious calls of the weekend, with Sunday’s golden point win by Penrith a focal point.

After the outrage surrounding Penrith's golden point win, three decisions took up a large portion of Monday's briefing

LIAM MARTIN CAME BACK TOO EARLY FROM SIN BIN

During Penrith’s golden point win over the Warriors, Panther Liam Martin returned from the sin bin just short of two minutes too early.

“That is true; he did come back somewhere between 1:30 and 1:40 – by our best calculations,” Annesley said.

“It’s hard to put an exact time on it because we don’t have direct access on the video to the sin bin time clock, which appears on the big screen.

According to Annesley, it wasn’t a system error but human error. When the ground manager became aware of the error, he was unable to take any action to remove Martin from the field.

“We’ll try to make sure that doesn’t happen again,” Annesley said.

THE DAVID FUSITU’A TRY THAT WASN’T

The Panthers went on to win 19-18 but if this howler had been the difference between the teams it would have been a far spicier meeting for Annesley.

Citing the video angle from the dead ball line, Annesley said, “The arm, or hand, is obscured by the corner post. That’s not an excuse, just a fact I’m pointing out.”

However, on the side angle, Fusitu’a's hand is clearly on the ground before the ball is grounded.

“That was missed by the video official and consequently awarded a try.

“In some ways it was…not an understandable error but you can see why perhaps that was missed in the first instance.

“But, there was enough evidence there for the video referee to make that decision correctly.”

JEROME LUAI GETS SIN BINNED

Luai was sent to the bin for 10 minutes for a professional foul on Warriors captain Roger Tuivasa-Sheck, clipping the Warriors captain’s heels as RTS kicked through in a try-scoring situation.

The slow mition replay tells a different story, though.

“He (RTS) doesn’t kick the ball before it hits the ground; you can nullify a knock-on if you kick the ball before it hits the ground,” Annesley said. “In this case the ball hits the ground so it’s a knock-on and what he does afterwards is irrelevant.”

 “Given that it’s not a try-scoring situation, it should not have been a professional foul.”

Chris Danks

Chris Danks Photo

After a failed athletic career in a far-flung land where delusions of former grandeur are hard to verify, Chris found a home as Sporting News Australia's Chief Editor, delivering fans original news and context beyond the box score.