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It was the biggest blunder of the season, a diabolical and inexplicable decision, according to the newspapers.
The error cost the Tigers the game, while Mick Potter may lose his job thanks to the decision, according to The Daily Telegraph.
Can we stop the hysteria for one minute and objectively look at what happened?
Yes, upon closer inspection, it was a try, but it would be surprising to see Mick Potter lose his job because of that one decision.
The side angle shows David Nofoaluma placing a tiny part of the ball on the stripe.
It’s a try, but barely – there were centimetres in it.
Channel Nine showed the side-on angle a number of times, but only showed the head-on angle once.
The head-on angle is the one Shayne Hayne would have looked from, and from that angle, the ball looked to have been placed short of the line.
In an age where we review almost every try, it is strange that this one was not reviewed, although the other angle does show how Hayne could have reached the conclusion that it was not a try.
It was the last tackle so the Tigers turned the ball over to Manly.
Inside Manly’s 10-metre line, the Tigers then held down in the tackle for too long and conceded a penalty.
In the ensuing set of six, Manly completely opened up the Tigers line with a set play and scored an easy try.
Hayne’s error was labelled a 12-point turn around because of this, which is a ridiculous notion.
Sure, he made an error in not sending it to the video referee, but he didn’t hold on in the tackle for too long, or make a massive defensive error – the Tigers did.
2:31 had elapsed when Hayne neglected to send the decision upstairs, which by my calculations meant there was still 77:29 left on the clock.
The Tigers had nearly a full game to overcome a single human error, but they simply couldn’t, and went on to create nine of their own, including two inside Manly’s 20.
After a line break, all Luke Brooks had to do was hit Robbie Farah with a pass out of dummy-half and the Tigers would have been over; instead his pass was wide of the mark and Farah dropped it.
How come no one is talking about that? Or when Pat Richards rushed out of the line to try and shut down a Manly backline play, leaving plenty of room for Peta Hiku to score in the corner?
The fact is, bad decision by Hayne or not, the Tigers were comprehensively outplayed by the Sea Eagles, who showed exactly why they are sharing first place on the ladder right now.
“I thought it would have taken the video ref about three seconds to rule on it. That is not the reason we lost,” Mick Potter said in the post-match press conference.
It was a dodgy decision, and this is coming from a diehard Manly fan, but the Tigers did plenty to lose the game on their own without the help of Shayne Hayne.
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