Drink Of Choice – Lagavulin 16YO
It isn’t often that you can salute a team that is eliminated from the finals two weeks before the grand final but the Parramatta Eels find themselves in that kind of rarefied company following their 8-6 loss to the Penrith Panthers in a game enshrouded in the highest of high drama.
As Sixties and myself tried to make sense of what we had just born witness to in our instant reaction podcast, we genuinely struggled for the superlatives to adequately encapsulate the pure courage, frenzied desperation and sheer grit of Brad Arthur’s band of heroes. Even now, with the modest benefit of a fitful night of sleep I am not entirely sure I can do our boys due justice.
They were valiant gladiators battling against the whims of a spiteful emperor on Saturday night. Doomed einherjar raging against cataclysmic forces of a football ragnarok with their last breaths. Tortured protagonists of a newly written and especially cruel Shakespearian masterpiece in which they suffered the slings and arrows of the most vindictive misfortune. To a man they were lionhearted warriors who left absolutely nothing on the field. No shame. No dishonour. Only the bittersweet splendor of a glorious defeat, emblazoned by the collective blood, sweet and tears of seventeen fallen champions. An epic truly worthy of the eight great Grecian tragedies.
Did this tackle that decide the game? Discuss… 🤔 #NRLPanthersEels
Brought to you by @tabcomau, Long May We Play. pic.twitter.com/ugcdIgDARQ
— Fox League (@FOXNRL) September 18, 2021
“I thought the referee (Ashley Klein) and the bunker controlled one of the most intense games of the season extremely well.” – Graham Annesley 19/09/21
In these moments, these season and often career defining moments, the chances for victory and premiership glory can be as tangible and temperamental as a leaf dancing in the wind. The task itself is already so enormous without influence, so driven by luck with injuries and the liquid nature of form itself that the least you can ask of the game itself is the right at a fair shot for eighty paltry minutes in a given week – give or take the odd decision naturally. Since no one should ever pretend that refereeing is an easy business.
“If we are wrong I will be prepared to say we are. But I am not prepared to say it yet.” – Graham Annesley 19/09/21
In case you somehow missed it though, the Parramatta Eels were not afforded that right this week. Last night was a brutal clash with the outstanding and formidable Penrith Panthers. A team that was deservedly given heavyweight contender billing for the body of work they have smashed out over the last two seasons. A storied Western Sydney rival that to their credit stood up against the magnificent fury of the Blue & Gold. It should have been a game for the ages. Perhaps it still is in spite of the taint that lingers over it. That speaks volumes to the standard of play from both Eel and Panther alike.
However it was marred by the spectre of horrifically imbalanced officiating. A natural outcome of a product that has been made faster and ever faster, seemingly closing in on the speed of light. Add to this conflagration the accelerator that is an officiating corp direly low on both depth and quality and you arrive at Saturday night. The powerbrokers that want this great game of ours to be fast and full of explosive offences are the same men and women that saw fit to reduce the game to a sole on-field official in a time where they desperately need a second set of eyes to combat the unprecedented speed and fatigue in the game.
So in lieu of a toast to our venerable players, incandescent and implacable in defeat as they were, for we have an entire off-season to celebrate their exploits. This musings, a long awaited return to this kind of blogging for myself it should be said, will take the rare luxury of dabbling in the wicked realm of refs-faulting to see just how far and wide the system let our team down on the weekend.
And in the spirit of a modern Shakespearean piece, given I invoked the famous playwright’s name earlier, I present to you all 10 Things I Hate About You, NRL.
#1: Game Clock 15:08 – Nathan Cleary Shepherd
Lost amidst all of the chaos following a successful Penrith challenge that earned them six-again for a stray touch from WIll Penisini was the fact that the Panthers only had that opportunity because Nathan Cleary ran an old school shepherd behind Moses Leota. As we all know you are not allowed to take any advantage after such an outcome but Cleary clearly passes back to his left and links up with Dylan Edwards before Penisini ultimately gets that fateful hand to the ball.
Why is this sequence so important you ask? Because on the very next possession, one they should never have been entitled to, the Penrith Panthers would go on to score their one and only try of the night.
#2: Game Clock 22:26 – Clinton Gutherson Forward Pass
At the less egregious end of the scale but no less frustrating when there are a mountain of other hugely dubious decisions going against you we have the Clinton Gutherson forward pass decision. In a vacuum this is a genuine 50/50 lineball call that you wear if it doesn’t go your way. Arguably the ball leaves Gutherson’s hands backwards but it very clearly floats a long way forwards. Something in the vicinity of three or four metres. To the letter of the law it could or should have been play-on but these are the rapid decisions the officials have to make where you give them a bit of leeway.
#3: Game Clock 38:58 – Will Smith High Tackle Penalty
One of the defining moments of the game given the eventual two point margin of victory. Will Smith obviously makes contact high across Liam Martin’s chest but that is well within his rights as a defender. Smith avoids impacting either neck or chin and simply makes a strong legal tackle that jolts the ball free of Martin’s grasp. If the Bunker is so deadset on influencing the game via late calls that completely reverse the flow of the game, why isn’t it able to act on egregious missed calls? This is all before we even consider how poor the original decision was by Ashley Klein.
#4: Game Clock 49:56 – Isaiah Papali’i Missed High Tackle
In stark contrast we move to the other side of half-time where the Parramatta Eels are attempting a raid on Penrith’s goal line. Moses Leota, he of earlier shepherding fame, might as well dub himself “The Invisible Man” for his wicked ability to contort light to his every whim and will when it comes to the referee’s gaze. Leota clearly contacts Isaiah Papali’i across the jaw in as easy a high tackle penalty as you will ever see. A stunned ‘Ice’ and a cluey Ryan Matterson are both very much well aware of what just took place. Ashley Klein on the other hand saw no harm nor foul in the tackle and a gift shot at goal to level the scores is written out of the history books.
#5: Game Clock 54:49 – Paul Momirovski Bobbles Into Shaun Lane
Blink and you’ll miss it but if Ashley Klein was able to correctly nail Ray Stone for bobbling the footy in a driving Jarome Luai tackle in this same period then he should have also picked this indiscretion up. Paul Momirovski almost manages to regain possession without the ball contacting the ground or a Parramatta player but as he brings the loose ball back up to his chest to pin it for control he brings it into contact with Shaun Lane.
#6: Game Clock 58:28 – James Fisher-Harris Tackled Off The Ball
This time around we have a decision that ventures into a grey area in the game. The Panthers are spared a costly turnover in possession due to the Bunker’s interference. James Fisher-Harris runs a decoy late to the line and right into the vicinity of Marata Niukore. The Eels’ enforcer braces himself given that there is a mountain of a man steaming into him and Fisher-Harris goes down like he was winged by a sniper. The NRL has made a point of heavily punishing deliberate and violent off-the-ball incidents this season but in this case it was very little of either.
Indeed, Blake Ferguson drew plenty of understandable ire from the commentary team for his embellishment and rapid recovery just prior to this incident. Yet the Fox call was unable or unwilling to call a spade a spade the second time around. Fisher-Harris spent a long minute grabbing at his ‘injured’ shoulder on the ground until the Bunker entered play at which point he bounced back to his feet ready to resume play.
Critically, because the Bunker needs an incident to be deemed a reportable offence in order to intervene the Panthers received a pair of free interchanges for this exchange.
#7: Game Clock 67:53 – Blake Ferguson Line Break Clown Fiesta
Now we get to the crown clown prince of a veritable mountain of poor calls or missed calls. The Eels looked to have seized initiative in the championship minutes of the contest with a perfectly constructed right-edge movement. Blake Ferguson was released by a lovely interchange of passes from Junior Paulo, Mitchell Moses and Will Penisini before the veteran flanker kicked ahead for his star rookie centre. Everything happens at a lightning quick pace but there are three key factors to this:
- Above all we have the fact that Jerome Luai clearly takes out Mitchell Moses as a support player. There are no two ways about this. It was cynical, deliberate and should have immediately resulted in a stint in the sin-bin.
- Brent Naden absolutely throws caution to the wind here. He is clearly behind Penisini in the race to the bouncing ball and makes a calculated decision to try and play at the ball through Penisini. The timing between his right arm contacting the football and his left arm wrapping around the free runner are awfully close and certainly warranted a closer look by the video referee.
- Finally, regardless of any questions of Naden taking out Penisini – something that I am willing to entertain – the Penrith flanker drags the ball back towards his body…which in case you are easily confused about directions on the field, means that he pulled it back towards the Eels’ goal line. That constitutes a knock-on.
The fact that the touch judges and Ashley Klein managed to miss all three incidents is seriously impressive. Furthermore, because Klein refused to rule on any of them the Eels were left with no recourse to challenge bar for committing a cynical indiscretion of their own on the resultant tackle. The ball was always in play and thus they were unable to contest a litany of terrible no-calls.
#8: Game Clock 69:30 – Ray Stone Forward Pass
This game was not kind to Ray Stone but I will be damned if I let anyone mouth a bad word about him. Thrust into one of the two most stressful roles in the game, Stone played his backside off but a lack of familiarity with the role of dummy-half in a high stakes game hurt him. With two knock-ons and a poor pass in Parramatta’s final possession he certainly didn’t need Ashley Klein piling on the misery with a dubious forward pass decision.
Look, we all know it was a Barry Crocker of a pass. The pill got stuck in his hands and ended up as a worm burner but the one thing it didn’t do was travel forwards. Flat at worst certainly but not forwards. Frustratingly, once again the Eels were not able to challenge an obviously poor officiating decision because forward passes can not be contested.
#9: Game Clock 72:25 – Nathan Cleary Deliberate Slow Down
Now we arrive at one of the most important but least heralded moments in the game. With the contest balanced on a knife’s edge and under eight minutes left to play, Clinton Gutherson scythes through a fatigued Penrith kick chase to make a line break and kick start the Eels momentum with a 30m boost. The man who initially kicked the ball, Nathan Cleary, ends up making the tackle on Parramatta’s captain and quite clearly and quite cynically deliberately snares Gutherson’s ankle to prevent him from playing the ball.
While Ashley Klein would award the Eels a set restart, this was as clear cut a professional foul as you will see. It should have resulted in a Parramatta penalty and the Penrith halfback sitting out the remainder of the game in the sin-bin.
#10: Game Clock 76:08 – Paul Momirovski Strips Clinton Gutherson
Finally, with under four minutes left to play and the Eels making a desperate final bid to win the game or at least lock the scores up we have a bizarre moment from Ashley Klein. The Parramatta Eels play to their left finding their captain and fullback in Clinton Gutherson who takes on the line himself. Paul Momirovski and Nathan Cleary converge to make the tackle but Momirovski gets his hands all over the football and makes a clear attempt to pull the ball out. Indeed, the football squirts out backwards where it is recovered by Waqa Blake.
Klein, in a moment of singular clarity, deems that Gutherson has neither lost the ball nor has Momirovski quite clearly stripped it with two in the tackle but it is play-on. Had the penalty been awarded the Eels would have been afforded a chance to level the scores and send the game to extra time – admittedly with a sideline attempt at a penalty goal which is no certainty. Still, Mitchell Moses is an excellent exponent of the conversion and the fact remains that the Eels were not afforded that right.
Not Captured – A Litany Of Timely Injury Stoppages
Brad Arthur agitated about this particular branch of gamesmanship let loose in a shockingly rare outburst in his post-match press conference but the Penrith Panthers were able to hold up the game at a number of crucial junctures where momentum was with the Eels due to a trainer stopping play. If you cast your memories back to 2020 and Week 1 of the finals, Parramatta were robbed of momentum at a critical point against the Melbourne Storm due to a trainer stopping play for Suliasi Vunivalu damn near 40m behind play. The rules were directly changed in light of that to prevent the cynical use of that rule and yet here we are having come full circle a year later.
The more things change the more they stay the same indeed.
The Final Word
And there you have it. Perhaps the first and last time I will ever venture fully and wholeheartedly into the realms of refs-faulting. It was seedy and sordid and living through a second viewing of the insipid display did nothing for closure or to elicit a cathartic response. Given that Graham Annesley has already come out on the front-foot to defend the objectively awful officiating, I can’t say I am expecting anything significant to come from this (as in the general fallout, not this wee little blog) but for myself personally I want it committed to the annals of history – even if it is only the dusty annals of TCT.
All you can ever ask for in a game as big as our clash against the Panthers is a fair shake. You cop the odd rough call, you acknowledge that 50/50s don’t always fall in an even split. That is the nature of sports and especially rugby league. What happened on Saturday night was a travesty though and goes far beyond anything we have seen in our glorious game in a long, long time.
Henceforth I will be celebrating the heroism of our team and club and alongside Sixties, I look forward to diving into some of the truly positive stories to come out of this season for the Parramatta Eels. Please look forward to it as much as we do.
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Have to agree with most of your very thorough and fair assessment. The better team did not win last night … and the game was not played on an even footing.
This wasn’t a some games go that way match. How three incidents were missed in the one play from Fergo was astounding.
Klein must be on the take, that’s the only sensible outcome you can take from this circus. Still we wait for Annesley to decipher what went on. Roosters would have got their answer 20mins after the match. How Ashley Klein can hold life membership with the Panthers and officiate their game is beyond me.
Excellently put together Forty20!!
On a serious note, there is no suggestion from us about a lack of integrity. It’s a sport with form affecting the performance of referees just like form affects teams or individuals. What we all witnessed was that this combination of officials produced a standard of officiating which was substandard and it needs to be rectified. Refereeing is a tough ask. Mr Klein has had more than his share of issues and he still gets appointed to the big matches despite evidence that he struggles at times. In that instance, if he is doing as best as he can, the fault doesn’t lie with him but rather with those who appoint him. The selective defence of his decisions is evidence of where the problem lies.
We were robbed on national tv under lights and everyone saw it except the ref and the bunker official. I can take a few 50/50 calls going against us but Klein’s performance was beyond that scope. He refused to enforce the rules of the game on the panthers and actively penalised us for legal acts.
Whinging won’t change the result but by the jingo it’ll add some intensity to our next game against the morally corrupt panthers…
Scott, we all accept those games where it just doesn’t fall your way. It happens. There are those calls that Forty defines as 50/50 – but it was an avalanche of 50/50 and just plainly wrong calls that all fell one way.
it’s been the way since the 80’s maybe greg hartley still holds sway over todays referees
I had flashbacks Anon.
How about the fact that Cleary was referees boss prior to taking on the coaching job at Tigers
This is what Bennett had an issue with.
How about we start a petition to have the game reviewed independently by a panel of experts who have no affiliation to the NRL? Maybe by representatives from the English Super League?
Rob, unfortunately all we can do is to put pressure on the NRL when we have matches like this. We shouldn’t be losing quality refs like Cecchin and Badger without obvious successors coming through. Nor should Klein or Atkins be appointed to another finals match this season.
That’s what I’m talking about, pressure. We, as a supporter group, use our names, signatures and voices to pressure the NRL into looking at themselves and admitting they F’D us royally. To do that we’d need an outsider to agree and compile a list of how and where and why… and then force the NRL to apologise and/or effect change.
Why does the graham annesley bend over backwards for the roosters and other teams but are so quick to claim everything is sweet in this game.
In our game against roosters annessley came out straight after the game on fox and said Dylan brown should of been sin binned for sliding with knees. Very unprofessional considering he was yet to appear in front of judiciary but cause Robbo had a whinge we entered into the head high crackdown.
Also, our players were getting blocked from pressuring kicks and being pulled away by the Penrith dummy half from being able to make it to marker when wrestling in a tackle.
I’m fairly sure that last year Annesley made a statement straight after Parra beat Manly that Turbo’s pass wasn’t forward and that the referee had erred. So his comments today are hollow.
I always checked who was going to officiate our games and whenever I seen the names Klein, Perenara or Atkins I new there was a better than even chance we would be screwed!
I try not to think about who’s in charge, but with some I can’t help but cringe.
Great effort Forty.
Just one more and I am not sure if it is correct. When Tavita Pangai came on late, Panthers had used up all of their interchanges.
So when he came on he used a HIA card to effect the interchange.
Clearly the player coming off had a leg injury.
I can not argue with your analysis of Klein and I love the effort of all 17 players and coaching staff I am hesitant to blame Klein for our loss.. It’s swings and roundabouts. I listened to the podcast last night and was having the same feelings of the author and sixties.
We accept swings and roundabouts. Things happen in games, refs are humans. This was just substandard officiating which impacted one team far greater than another. The ref has form with poor officiating. The NRL needs to consider their appointments because this type of officiating is not finals standard.
Did they get an illegal free interchange on that last injury? And had they used all their interchange ?
No, I believe it was a follow on from a previous change
Looking at all those replays makes me so angry. It backs up my view watching that game. Thank you.
I love league and in truth spend way too much time and money supporting it.
I don’t know why I am surprised but those comments from Graham Annesley about the excellent control by those two officials last night are really deflating and at the same time infuriating. He needs to go back into politics or advertising if he thinks he can sell to the average NRL fan that the officiating was anything other than pathetic and one sided at best.
For god sake even Manly and Tigers fans are sticking up for us.It takes a lot to unify those three fan groups.
I am so angry about last night that I want anyone but Penrith to win the title. I am a passionate Parra fan but I will cheer my heart out for Manly or the Storm when and if they play them. I never ever thought I would do that but I will. If they defeat Penrith I will raise a glass and celebrate.
I know what I saw last night, it was too bad to simply be some tough 50/50 calls. To hear that the touchie who missed all those things in that Fergo break also forgot that the Penrith trainer needs to be on the field and assess the player before he can ask him to let the referee know that play should be stopped is very hard to comprehend. How can people make so many mistakes or miss so many things that go only one way?
If he, Mr Annesley, genuinely thinks that about last nights game then our game has no good future. He is either blind or worse because even neutrals know what they saw last night. A fantastic game, played by two fantastic, talented teams that was always going to be close and could go either way that was significantly impacted and spoilt by at best incompetent referees.
To be clear Penrith could well have still won and I do respect the enormous talent and passion in that team but we will never know how it would have played out. But what I do know is that I will never forget what those officials did. They are on the same page as Greg Hartley in my blue and gold eyes.
I so want our club to fight this by demanding accountability and not letting it drop.
Enough is enough, I am sick of Mr Klein and Mr Atkins ruining my enjoyment of watching Parra games. I dread every time I see them on our game. To think we had them both in our most important game was a nightmare come true.
The result is the result but no team should have to put up with that and if people at the NRL cannot see that they should not have a job. After all it our game, the clubs and fans own it not those in suits at NRL headquarters.
You want Annesley in charge of Covid policy, trade relations with China and nuclear-powered submarines? I say, no. Let him see out his current sinecure.
Great work team, I had 7 of the 10 – and you are right – we can cop 1 or 2 errors or 50/50 but some of these are so obvious – the Moses incident with the touchie 3 metres away, the Gutho strip with the touchie a few metres away.
I think there was also a clear escort in the first half that was blatant in front of the posts
I am not a fan of complaining about the ref after a loss – but this game had so many obvious errors and massive game changing / momentum changing decisions that I think the eels and BA need to ask for an official report
Cheers Greg. Using BA as a barometer – the fact that he never raises questions about refs in a presser – his reaction said plenty. However or why ever it played out this way, to ignore it is to stick the head in the stand. How can these officials control another finals match?
Forty20 you good sir are a wordsmith.
That he is!
I know it’s not the case (dear god I hope not) it felt like the refs were tapped on the back to quietly give Penrith the rub of the green and penalise Eels as much as possible. I know this is conspiracy territory but honestly the amount of stuff they “missed” or let Penrith get away with was a joke and very suspicious if you ask me. Or maybe they’re just that incompetent. Who the hell knows.
Jarrad, it looks bad but it’s not an integrity issue. It’s just incompetence that has been in evidence many times in the past.
Well said Forty20, (you’re a bloody poet) and agree with all. Like I said on the other post by Sixties, a match where the outcome was determined by the refs and not by the quality of the contest, an absolute travesty by any measure. The fans and viewers were robbed of a fair match and how anyone in the NRL can come out a defend that performance by those two is beyond me.
Shelly is right in her comments also, when you’ve got opposition fans and fans that outright hate Parramatta saying the boys were robbed, well something’s gotta change, right?
This is the big stage. The officiating was barely park level.
If we look at all the top teams…. Their coaches know how to put the referees on notice. I believe after 8 years BA has finally come of age with his spray at the presser. We did not get the rub of the green…. But we were also our own worst enemies, I think our mistakes would number more than 10. What I am proud of is how the boys responded though all this adversity. They never gave up.. Nor dropped their heads….. And stayed in the moment. This is how I want my team to play. Super proud of you boys.
10 errors us 9 errors riff evens out but the refs dont !!!! Thats a light mistake rate from both teams and excusable so own worst enemies , nah !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Agreed – the players were amazing in what they produced.
The performance from both teams was gold standard 10 year. Think about the error rate compared to the intensity and ferocity. The two finals matches over the weekend looked like different codes – such was the standard.
unfortunately, the officials didn’t match it.
Can you send this to the NRL, Press etc. I know it wont help us but it might help other teams going forward
Thanks 40s for the forensic detail. The decline in officiating, IMO, is the result of the lack of accountability. For Annessley to claim the reffing was good is a prime example of not addressing the elephant in the room. Until mistakes are recognised the sad state of affairs will continue. And those mistakes were made collectively on Saturday night. How can Klein, linespeople and bunker make such a litany of errors.
I did find reading your article cathartic and strangely amusing. Love your turn of phrase. I hope you sent it to the refs association.
Thanks to everyone at tct for their input during the year. Always look forward to an intelligent read. Onwards to next season and a better suck at the sauce bowl.
Up the Mighty Eels
It’s painful to have the season end with injustice, but let’s let the fire burn in the belly for next year.
Great read !!
You have to wonder that the NRL has an agenda here. It was supposed to be a Grand Final rematch but Penrith lost week 1, so the next best was to make sure it happened in the GF qualifier. There was no way the NRL was going to let Parra win that game. Not when Parra already has the largest membership of any NRL club. If that is not the case, it was a completely incompetent performance from Klein and he should be sacked immediately.
It’s this lack of consistency that is ruining the game. Parra fans keep turning up to see their club perform to their best, the least the NRL can do is give us a fair go for once. Any more of the same will lead even Parra fans to switch off eventually, and that would be disastrous for the game.
Longfin, as someone who had to watch refs of the 70s, it felt familiar, and I was yelling such accusations at the tv during the game. but there cannot be questions of integrity or agenda in the game now. Refs aren’t like that, but some aren’t near first grade standard, for a variety of reasons. It leads them to make errors that others wouldn’t. We can cop the swings and roundabouts of tough calls that might go your way next time, but this was a litany of errors that cannot be excused. If Klein gets another finals match then it’s an indictment of the NRL. If he never refs another Eels game, I’ll be overjoyed.
I don’t know how you can be so certain there is nothing more than just incompetence here. It’s strange how some clubs seem to get all the leg-ups. If it was incompetence then Klein’s days (and those of the touch judges) are done, certainly in big games anyway.
Thank you for taking the time to document these refs-faults. It was an incompetent display by someone (Klein) no doubt trying to do his best but beaten by the speed of the game and a lack of assistance from his sideline officials. What do they do? I am gobsmacked by the number of incidents they miss when they are closer to the action than anyone.
Several times in the game it was clear even as a viewer on a TV that the calls were poor and wrong. The selective work of the bunker is also a disgrace, although I did enjoy them calling back the try for Luai’s offside
Well done, and thanks for a wonderful season of commentary and reflection on our mighty Eels. The Cumberland Throw is an Eels institution and contributes immensely to this fan’s enjoyment of the footy.
cheers,
Jim
Thanks Jim. I agree wholeheartedly with your observations here.
Ragnarok? I”ll look it up later forty. Brilliant piece, based on a few comments, there could be a Version 2 going out to 15. The intervention by the trainer may become No 1. The correct procedure would have been for him to enter the field and assess Kenny. The Vunivalu and Kikau incidents have set clear precedents for what is both procedurally and ethically correct. To run to the touchie first and stop play while Kenny is nowhere near the play is just wrong, and the fact that Penrith (the same bloke) are prior proven offenders (not speculation) is damning. The aerial shot of how the teams were formed up when Klein stopped play throws disgrace on the act in a 2 point game.. If ever there were grounds for a protest or even disqualification, well here it is. The NRL should not paper over this, they become complicit and need set a standard. VLandys is a cut through sort of guy, well this is a moment for cut through.
BDon, that stoppage gets worse the more you look at the evidence. Time was of the essence in stopping that play the ball. They would have struggled to contain the shift that was about to happen. Hence the desperate run to the touchie- And Penrith’s action here – if it looks like a duck…
for those interested in seeing what the refs boss has to say about the decisions during our game. 2.30pm EST https://www.nrl.com/tv/news/graham-annesley-weekly-football-briefing—finals-week-two-1268974/
I just watched it, thank God I did as I hadn’t realised that the officials were geniuses. He stopped the footage on the Fergo/ Penisini play because it suited his narrative. What a jerk. More annoyed than ever after listening to that selective crap.
Trapped, I was writing a post as you posted yours, 100%
Me too mate!
For the first time I listed to the football briefing. They did not bring up the tackle on Penisini, or show any footage, to the credit of the Journalist, I think Scott Bailey, he asked about it. Graham stated as he had already confirmed, the tackle on Moses off the ball should have brought a penalty so there was no need to look into further downstream. This made my big head explode. As readers of TCT would already know, I think we let the game get away from us. But, this from Graham, leads me to believe that maybe Peni should have got his second penalty try in a matter of two weeks, with the NRL worried about their being a riot!!!!! I am hoping someone with contacts will be able to get vision, head on preferably, to show what exactly happened here. Did Peni touch the ball, was he taken off the ball, was a Riff player offside when he picked up the ball. I am not totally like BA, where he never slags the refs, but with the NRL not showing what happened in this incident, makes me think something is being covered up.
TCT, you have access to many more contacts and resources than the average man off the street, I want this to be investigated (yes, think of Toovey). I want definative proof that Peni knocked it on as NRL have alluded.
And if he did knock it on, was he interfered with and not allowed a fair play at the ball?. The fact that Moses was illegally taken out of the play was let go by officials, that was the real world situation,play on, so the next play should be examined as well. Annesley’s logic is poor, only good if he wants to shut it down.
It looked like he was interfered with in chasing the ball. But by allowing the play to continue there was no stoppage for usual review.
I’d definitely like to see front on. If I get to see it I’ll definitely make it known.
Just to make clear, this is not sour grapes, the result will stand regardless, this is about accountability, the fact the NR did not show vision and deflected discussion on this topic, is the issue I have here. We all make mistakes, own it. The fact they dont discuss…..what other conclusion can I draw?
Those reporters are a waste of space!!!
When Stone threw that pass, Gutho told Klein to challenge it, Klein’s response was you can’t challenge a forward pass!!! Wtf is going on? He called it a knock on not forward pass geez this pisses me off. Annesley picks and chooses on what he wants to explain, where the f#%k was the explanation on Penisini getting tackled and Naden knocking on the ball and Burton picking it up in a offside position?
That was astounding!
It’s a disgrace. That’s evidence of why there is a problem.
Here’s one from left field. If you slow down Capewell’s try, does he lose it into Waqa as he is falling?
Of course not. Annesley would have been all over that.
I hadn’t even considered that! I think Trapped’s response is appropriate.
I contend that towards the end of rtight games, the refs become so afraid of making the wrong call they make no calls. Which, of course, means they will make a wrong call.
Great point!
I would just like to say that the Marata ‘hit’ on James FH is mega farcical. Slow it down and you ll see FH becomes the decoy less than 2 steps away from Marata, when the ball goes behind FH he takes another one and half steps before contact with MN What was MN supposed to do, leave the passage open? Not be braced for a possible tackle on a raging bull? He barely takes a step, more leans into FH with no vigour or real tackle intent, in fact I would say he mutes his energy and presents only as body barrier, and it is 50/50 about who runs into who. All in less than one second.Fisher Harris actually watches the ball go to ground and decides to imitate the ball and stay down. The bunker is sucked in by this??? The error was forced because our guys did everything right, check the mini-umbrella formation, Cleary tried to dig into the line, Penrith got it too tight, FH impeded Edwards sight line just as he saw Moses a metre forward of the line inside ( ie the umbrella). So we got punished for playing football well.
Agree 100%. A penalty there was a farce!
Like a few others, first time I’ve watched Annesley debrief in full. What a joke. If that debrief is supposed to defuse frustration by clearing the air, it completely backfires. It’s smug and completely one sided. A few obvious issues:
1: It picks some, not all the contentious decisions. The reason being, they weed out the “smaller” errors they can’t defend.
2: They freeze-frame analyse everything and clearly deliberately look for reasons to support the decision, even if to the average spectator the application of the rules are pretty clearly at odds with Annesley’s assessment.
3: They pitch the whole thing as providing a balanced view when they only ever explain one side of the argument.
4: Everything is decontextualised such that the substance of the matter is lost.
i read Andrew Webster’s article today about everyone whining about ref decisions. It’s probably a fair point, but the tone should start at the top. If the refs boss just goes in to bat for his staff, and doesn’t accept errors were made, then you won’t earn the respect of the fans, and the fans will continue to crucify refs for poor games like Klein had.
I get refs are going to make mistakes. I also am not convinced that any one of these necessarily cost us the game. But gee whizz, if this is their approach to managing issues, they are doing a good job of disengaging their audience.
Lastly on all the play stoppages, particularly the Mitch Kenny one, penalties levied against Penrith if they are found to have breached the rules (which if they did, it can only be said to have been deliberate cheating) doesn’t help Parra. It’s pretty clear to me that trainers shouldn’t be able to stop play unless a player is in the middle of the run of play, or it’s a head/spinal style injury where urgent attention is needed. Just being in pain and needing to leave the field is not relevant, regardless of how many weeks you have on the sidelines as a consequence.
Well noted with all of this Mick. It treated supporters with contempt. And failure to acknowledge the flaws in their systems will only lead to more of the same.
Excellent piece of ref-faulting Forties. I probably picked up half the issues you have; 10 errors really does push the angry button.
In a way I can accept a good portion of the errors, we ask referees to do a lot and a miss here and there is part and partial of the game.
Less tolerant of the misses by the touch judges – they really don’t have any excuses to miss things like Moses being taken out and the gutho strip.
But the trainer’s involvement is stepping into completely unacceptable behaviour. Having an external party coming up with an angle to assist his team in their moment of need is not on – that’s cheating and the NRL needs to act on that.
I agree. I’ve become more annoyed with that stoppage with every passing day.
The stoppage against the Knights was longer, potentially worse, but the Eels were not behind at that point.
That was only 1 week ago. So therefore they could not fix the problem even for 1 week.
Thanks forty; quite simply we were dudded; and yes we had chances to win.
Those calls were disgraceful; and lets be honest, are we at all surprised? The refs and bunker have been picking and choosing what they address for yrs now.
If we were an Easts / Melb type team I am sure some of those calls would have gone to us….the fact our coach never blows up, to me has something to do with this and the refs know it. They know BA etc. does not blow up and cost themselves a fine.
Diabolical and the trainer one was blatant cheating / gamesmanship at its worse. Shoe on the other foot…..and Cleary would have been crying in his sour milk. That was some of the worse non-calls I have seen by a ref and bunker….
Nothing will change and we will of course see more political spin thrown into the game to change the course of these issues.
The usual rule changes will come in again etc. sorry but i have turned off for the year, See you in 2022.
Good points. Don’t forget The storm and Vinuvallu getting a cramp on half way and the trainer stopping play. BA has to spend some money at the pressers
also Dunster knock on – I thought he kicked it before it hit the ground