The NRL has admitted the Bunker got it wrong with the controversial no-try decision against the Sydney Roosters … but were they too hasty in acknowledging the error?
A Law and Order or CSI style investigation from Fox Sports’ The Back Page suggests so, with new Hawkeye-like vision reopening the debate — and indicating perhaps officials were correct in denying the Roosters a try for obstruction last Thursday night.
The obstruction rule has come under fire for the penalty which denied the Roosters in the 22-16 loss, with NRL head of football Graham Annesley saying the decision was wrong and calling on video referees to apply their judgement.
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Annesley dissects bunker call on Chooks | 03:15
However The Back Page host Tony Squires has now cheekily suggested it might have in fact been “the greatest bunker decision of the past five years” based on new vision using Fox Sports tracking graphics.
The technology predicted Panthers fullback Dylan Edwards’ movements had he not made contact with Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves. Based on the speed Edwards was travelling it suggests he may have in fact been a chance of reaching Joseph Manu before a try was scored.
Outrage over the incident stemmed from widespread belief Edwards was no chance at stopping the try when he was impeded and the footage certain sparked some debate amongst The Back Page panel.
“He’s a chance to get there,” AFL great Brad Johnson said. “You look at where he gets hit and the ball is still a fait way away from the line. He mightn’t have stopped it but I thought he could get there.”
Chief Fox League reporter James Hooper added: “This is a world first Tony. I know we’re on the Back Page Live but perhaps we’re on Law and Order. You are exonerating the Bunker!”
Squires replied: “More than that I’m saying that’s the greatest bunker decision of the past five years!”
Case closed? Perhaps not, but debate will continues to rage about the controversial rule.
Fair call or double standards? | 01:30
Annesley on Tuesday has warned fans that any proposed changes to make the obstruction rule black and white could have unwanted consequences with defenders likely to initiate contact in a bid to milk penalties.
“If we make these decisions completely black and white, or too black and white, then that encourages milking because players will say ‘I’m not going to get there so I’m just going to run into a lead runner’ and that way the try will be disallowed,” he said, adamant the “system is not broken”.
“We don’t want to encourage that. We don’t want to see milking because there’s enough milking that goes on in our game in all aspects.
“We don’t want to be creating any incentive for milking.”
The current obstruction interpretations were introduced in 2013, but like all rules, they’ll be looked at by the Commission at the end of the season.
“Over 11 years, this has stood the game in good stead,” Annesley said.
“Of course we’re going to have debates over some of these things, but we’ve got to be careful to not throw the baby out with the bath water.
“This has worked. People will say that they can think of a lot of occasions where it hasn’t worked, but that’s their opinion and it doesn’t mean their opinion is right, either.
“This (system) was developed because coaches and fans were sick of referees being the sole determiner of whether obstruction has occurred or not with no guidelines.
“If this can be tweaked in any way to make it clearer or to make it easier to officiate (then it will be looked at).”
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