NRL’s head of football Graham Annesley has conceded Parramatta was robbed of a crucial penalty during Saturday’s thrilling two-point semi-final loss to Penrith in Mackay.
The score was locked at 8-6 in the Panthers’ advantage and the Eels were desperately searching for points to keep their premiership dream alive when the match-defining incident played out.
With little more than 12 minutes left on the clock, Parramatta shifted the ball left to find winger Blake Ferguson, who sprinted down the sideline before putting through a grubber kick, which was cleaned up by scrambling Penrith defenders.
In the aftermath of the game, though, vision emerged of Eels halfback Mitchell Moses being illegally obstructed as he tried to run in support of Ferguson. Moses would have been an extra Eels player at the loose ball if not for Penrith playmaker Jarome Luai tugging on his shoulder, knocking him off his run.
“They start jostling each other… but it gets to a point where Luai grabs Moses by the shoulder and tips him off balance,” Annesley said in his weekly press briefing.
“In this case this should have been a penalty.”
If the foul was spotted at the time, the Eels would have had the option to kick for two points to level the score, or tap the ball and continue attacking the tired Penrith defence.
Annesley said it was an error made by the sideline official, not by main referee Ashley Klein or anyone in the video review bunker.
“Every play is a crucial play. This is a miss by the touch judge in this case. As long as I’ve been involved in the game back-play is the realm of the touch judge,” Annesley said.
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“It’s a miss, there’s no question about that. It should have been picked up. But in this case it wasn’t.
“The bunker can’t intervene on general play. The only way the bunker could rule on this would be if there was a tryscoring situation and the referee referred it to the bunker,” he said.
“Because the play doesn’t break down, it continues, it’s not something the bunker can intervene on.”
Annesley also spoke about a number of other contentious decisions made during the frantic and enthralling semi-final.
Both teams scored just one try, and ultimately it was a Nathan Cleary penalty goal which proved the difference at full time.
That penalty came in the first half and was awarded to the Panthers when Liam Martin was ruled to have been hit high by Eels tackler Will Smith.
Slow replays had many viewers convinced Smith did not make high contact with the Panthers forward, but Annesley disagreed.
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“We can see the arm come up, and the forearm hits just under the chin,” Annesley said.
“You can see the impact on the chin from the arm. You’ll see the face contort differently as the contact is made.
“It’s come from underneath but it’s hit him on the chin and I think by any standard that’s a penalty.”
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