Broncos reserve dummy-half Tyson Smoothy has been cruelly denied his first NRL try in the most bizarre incidents of the season, when he was inadvertently ‘tackled’ just short of the goal line by referee Grant Atkins.
After backing up and getting on the end of a Reece Walsh offload inside the Roosters ten metre line, Smoothy looked all but certain to score before colliding with Atkins, who was unable to get out of the way in time.
The contact caused Smoothy to fall agonisingly short of scoring his first try in the NRL. He attempted to make a lunge for the line after the contact but two Roosters were able to thwart that effort.
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After the contact, Fox League commentator Andrew Voss jokingly called Atkins as “The Axe” – a reference to hard-hitting rugby league great Trevor Gillmeister.
“Atkins has pulled off a try saver on Tyson Smoothy. Have you ever seen that before?” Voss said.
“Grant Atkins with one of the hits of the year.”
Soon after, a camera panned onto the Broncos box, with head coach Kevin Walters looking far from impressed.
Luckily for Walters, the Broncos and their fans, the incident had no bearing on the final result.
Walters was asked about the incident in his post-match press conference.
“I’m not sure what’s happened with poor old Ty, he’ll have to wait another week or two (for his first try),” the Broncos coach said.
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“He was in the right place, like a good traditional hooker, he’s down the middle of the field.
“It wasn’t a player that got in the road it was the poor old referee. I’ve got to take hat off to the referees as they do a great job of avoiding those collisions, but we got one tonight unfortunately for Tyson.”
After Smoothy was tackled, the set was allowed to continue without any stoppages, with the Broncos knocking the ball on the very next play.
The panel on the Late Show with Matty Johns wondered if Atkins should have called for a scrum once he interfered with a live play.
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“That should have been a try, shouldn’t it? The referee denied him the opportunity,” Gorden Tallis said tongue-in-cheek.
“It was a scrum. In the old days it was a scrum,” Bryan Fletcher added.
“The rules were it was a scrum to the attacking side.”
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