Referee Grant Atkins was embroiled in a second controversial moment on Sunday night when he sin-binned Bulldogs forward Corey Waddell with the game in the balance.
Waddell took a second-tackle hit-up with 22 minutes left in the game and he was initially tackled by Dragons duo Zac Lomax and Jack Bird before the latter dropped off.
That created a one-on-one tackle and Lomax successfully stripped the ball which prompted Waddell to hold of his opponent’s jersey.
Atkins called a changeover but Waddell held on to Lomax’s jersey which perplexingly saw the referee not only blow a penalty but put the Dogs forward in the bin.
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“Corey Waddell hasn’t got the memo that he lost it. Oh no, now he’s going to the bin,” Andrew Voss said on Fox League.
“Well Corey had no idea, he had no idea but he hung on and hung on, and now goes to the sin bin. What a moment.”
Atkins, who had earlier in the game been involved in a blow-up with Bulldogs veteran Josh Reynolds, told a stunned Waddell that it was a professional foul.
“It’s a professional foul mate, off you go. You continued to hold on well after the six-again,” Atkins said.
The decision left Fox League commentators Voss and Cooper Cronk stunned.
“Sometimes we let attacking players go back and play the ball because they don’t hear the call, he couldn’t possibly have heard the call,” Voss said.
“This is a huge call from the referee and a I think he’s overcooked it, Grant Atkins, because there was conjecture over who had the ball and who didn’t,” Cronk responded.
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“Yes there’s push and shove, yes he’s held on but it wasn’t a line break, it wasn’t a stoppage in play, I can’t agree with the 10 in the bin for that.”
The Dragons immediately made them pay as Max Feagai scored with Waddell off the field and Lomax converted to make it a two-point game..
But those proved the last points of the match as the Bulldogs held on for a gutsy 18-16 victory in Wollongong.
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