Ivan Cleary was right after all – the Panthers should not have been denied a try because of an obstruction on Saturday night.
So said NRL head of football Graham Annesley on Monday, who conceded he would have upheld the referee’s initial decision to award Sunia Turuva a four-pointer.
Panthers coach Cleary was miffed when the Bunker ruled Luke Garner had obstructed Cronulla’s Sifa Talakai in the lead-up to Turuva scoring midway through the second half.
The decision didn’t prevent the premiers from winning and advancing to a fifth straight grand final. Immediately after the match, Cleary slammed the no-try call as “terrible”, and said he was “anxious” about a similar call ruining a decider.
At his weekly Monday briefing, Annesley said Talakai had committed to tackling Garner and was unlikely to have got across in time to stop the Panthers’ winger.
He added any decision to retain bunker official Chris Butler for Sunday’s clash between the Panthers and Storm had yet to be made.
Why Ivan Cleary’s complaints about the bunker were justified.Credit: Getty Images
“In my view, the bunker has misjudged this, and the try should have been upheld,” Annesley said.
“In these types of situations where there is contact, they [the bunker] do have to exercise discretion. They did exercise their discretion in this case. I just don’t believe the decision that was made was the correct application of the discretion that was required.
“Talakai was not going to tackle anyone except Garner … [he was not moving] at a speed that would have allowed him to prevent the try. His total focus is on Garner.
“There was a time in the game they [the bunker] had no discretion, it was black and white, and everyone hated it. Everyone said bring back some discretion so they can [consider] exactly what happens, whether tries would have been stopped, or not stopped. But with discretion brings differences of opinion.”
The obstruction call against Penrith that had Ivan Cleary up in arms.Credit: Nine
Annesley also confirmed to this masthead the Storm should not have been awarded a crucial try early in the second half of their win over the Roosters on Friday night.
The Roosters had scored two quick tries to claw their way back to 24-18, only for Jahrome Hughes to hit back with a third try in the 52nd minute, despite what Annesley on Monday conceded was a Storm knock-on on the previous play.
Meanwhile, Annesley said this season was a success on a number of fronts, including crowds and TV ratings being up five per cent and seven per cent respectively on 2023.
This year also featured the most points and tries scored since 1998and the most games decided by six points or less since 2019.
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