The NRL has admitted they missed a knock on from backrower Hudson Young in the lead-up to the Raiders’ field goal which secured golden point victory.
As the scores sat at 30-30 with only minutes left on the clock in extra time, Jamal Fogarty stepped off his right foot before finding Jack Wighton.
Wighton offloaded the ball on the inside to Young who was met by Dolphins forward Ray Stone as the ball hit Canberra’s edge forward’s hand before bouncing off Stone’s shoulder.
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The referee signalled six again and only two tackles later Fogarty kicked the matchwinning field goal in a hammer blow for Wayne Bennett’s men.
Speaking during his weekly briefing NRL head of football Graham Annesley admitted referees made the wrong call.
“I can understand how difficult it would have been in live play for the referees to pick up but at the end of the day they did miss it,” Annesley explained.
“Hudson Young attempts to catch the ball, the ball appears to be knocked down and play goes on.
“As Hudson Young goes to take the ball, his fingers touch the ball and he loses it into the arm of Ray Stone which propels the ball toward the Raiders goal line.
“The referee felt like the ball had been knocked down by the Dolphins but missed the initial fumble by the Raiders. It should have been a knock-on called against Hudson Young.”
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He also said “there’s nothing we can do to change the outcome” which may have robbed the NRL’s 17th franchise of their sixth win of the season.
“The touch judge who had the best view of it made the call, believing that he made the right call but we’ve subsequently determined it was the wrong call,” Annesley said.
“As unfortunate as it is, there’s nothing we can do to change the outcome. These things happen in games.”
In between the two tackles which led to Fogarty’s field goal Stone was removed from the field for a HIA.
Reporters questioned why the Bunker wasn’t allowed to intervene and rule the Raiders had knocked the ball on.
“Under existing policy, the only time we can go back and have the Bunker intervene in play is for an act of foul play that’s a reportable offence,” Annesley said.
“That’s the only time the intervention of the Bunker can take us back in play.
“Incidents can’t be reviewed in injury stoppages either for obvious reasons like players feigning injury.
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“There have to be lines in the sand about how far we go back otherwise we’d be reviewing everything which isn’t possible under existing policy. That’s why the decision stood.”
He also conceded that the existing policy may change, however those amendments will only be made at the season’s end by the Australian Rugby League Commission.
“There’s a trade off in all of these things. There’s a trade off in continuity of play and there are people that think the Bunker and technology interfere in our game too much,” Annesley said.
“Refs will make errors in judgement every game, like players.
“In this case it was obviously at a key moment of the game and that’s unfortunate. I wish we could go back and change that decision so the outcome of the game is determined entirely by the players, but no one has the ability to do that.
“Unfortunately this one happened at an inopportune moment that impacted the game.”
