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.
Phill
Guest
Mind you, you did say you thought the Grand Final was officiated very well, every person I have spoken to on it disagrees with you on that one, even Roosters fans have ended up begrudgingly agreed with me when pushed.
Phill
Guest
ParraFan, I don't like both teams equally, and the Eagles were robbed, I actually felt sorry for their fans watching the match, you can sit in your ivory tower. In "our national competition" we have some very substandard refereeing going on, how can in a series of three (SOO) can you have such remarkable differing styles of refereeing? what is being done about it? there is always room from improvement, do you think the players go into a game saying oh' well mistakes are human nature and they are going to happen, players aren't afforded this luxury. It seems the only scrutiny happening with the refereeing is coming from the fed up fans and the administration is lacking. You know we are not talking about 50/50 calls you have been on these forums long enough to know the point of the argument or are you just stupid? The point we are talking about is where the whole audience, everyone can see the proper ruling except for the referees on the day.
Rick
Guest
The only thing worse than the refereeing in that game was the performance of the Tigers - they were woeful - as they had been the week before. The point however, is that Hayne should have gone upstairs - that is the purpose of the technology. The refs do it constantly. this time they didn't and it was a major blunder.
mushi
Roar Guru
Can I borrow your delorian Elma?
mushi
Roar Guru
No that's just the spirit of rugby league where you have to blame the referee for the outcome of every game. In my opinion we are, as a group, the worst fan base of any sport I watch. We constantly focus on off the field as if there is a grand conspiracy against "our" team the referee must need a conference each week to decide how they are going to rig the comp against 16 teams and two state sides all at once!
Will Sinclair
Roar Guru
I have certainly been moderated, but it's rare.
Will Sinclair
Roar Guru
"the refs didn’t make the Tigers concede the penalties." Gold!
Will Sinclair
Roar Guru
You're right. If only there was some system available to allow referees to review their decisions. Maybe some way they could watch the event again. Maybe (and this is getting really crazy now) they could even watch it in slow motion? It's a pity such a system wasn't available on Friday night.
Rodney
Roar Pro
the two games you cited were both games with goals as the primary scoring method. Goals are much simpler to call on than tries and these goals occur in a much more confined space than tries do. Rugby League may be seen as simple by fans other sports but there are several considerations before scores are awarded and there are several factors to be taken in before a try is awarded. For example soccer referees just have to know the ball went fully behind the goal line, which the touch judge also can help them with. AFL refs have to know the ball went over the goal line but also which goal line, and if the ball hit a post of other person on the way through League needs to worry about grounding, onside (if there was a kick), obstruction, whether there was a knock on, did the player step out of play ect. There's a limit to how much a person can perceive and analyze at any time and referees will often not have a clue whether a try was scored. With a goal its self evident (maybe there is a foul before the ball goes in but other than that if the balls in the net a goal has been scored) that a team has scored, tries are much harder to determine.
Conor Hickey
Roar Pro
It was odd they didn't look, but at the same time, the refs didn't make the Tigers concede the penalties. And at the same time, say they did refer it to the video ref and it was awarded a try, who is to say the Tigers don't spill their lollies from the kick-off, gift Manly a try, and then go on to be beat by 50!
Conor Hickey
Roar Pro
I would have been mad, but then again, I would also accept that we got beat by 32 points. There were seldom times when the Tigers looked like scoring, and Manly looked like scoring with most of their touches. Look at the stats, tackled in opposition 20 in particular, Manly had all the ball, despite conceding 10 penalties to the Tigers 6. It was a bad call, but the Tigers got beat by a good team. In round 4 when the Eels nearly upset the Sea Eagles in Brookie, was it the dodgy reffing call at the end, or the fact Joseph Paulo missed 3 or 4 conversion kicks that made them lose?
Conor Hickey
Roar Pro
I defend the refs a lot but I don't think even they know when the video ref can and cannot be used. The rulebook needs some serious re-writing so that the many grey areas in league are eliminated
Conor Hickey
Roar Pro
Well did Finch get sat down when he dropped the ball, or made the wrong read to cost his team a try? Probably not.
Conor Hickey
Roar Pro
In Potter's defense, he said it didn't cost them the game. You also have to consider that often players and coaches will talk about the decision in the press conference because a journalist asks them the question. Someone in that press conference would have asked about the decision for sure, and Potter answered it. A coach is entitled to think he got the wrong call, but he didn't make any excuses.
Conor Hickey
Roar Pro
I'd love to argue with you on this, but I have mentally blocked out the traumatic memory of last year's grand final, who won again? :p
Conor Hickey
Roar Pro
Haha well not just the Telegraph, Ray Warren must have mentioned it about eight times too, the replays on the news called it 'a controversial decision', but the Telegraph spent all weekend talking about it
Conor Hickey
Roar Pro
It was a try, but it was pretty close not to being a try, and to make that sort of call in real time would be quite difficult.
Elma Dudd
Guest
Rewrite history ??? Why would we after all history says ROOSTERS 2014 premiers !!!
Cadfael
Roar Guru
To me the point was that it was close and warranted a second look by the video ref. That's what the video ref is for. Yes, it was a cricket score but the try was disallowed, Manly got the next four or five penalties and scored a couple of tries. Had West Tigers had that try awarded it may have changed the outcome, we'll never know. It did blow up Hayne's confidence. I think he referred every try after that. He stuffed up as others have whether players or refs. The difference is that players get dropped and referees who stuff up also go. Hayne is reffing first grade this week.
Coopdogg
Guest
Yeah manly scored on the next play . But who's to say the tigers didn't score again and the pressure of being 12 points down caused manly to make errors themselves . Your a die hard manly supporter I bet you would have been furious because of a bad decision you were 12 points down