[VIDEO] Newcastle Knights vs Sydney Roosters: NRL highlights, scores, blog

I'm in the same boat Muzz - as a Roosters supporter i thought their performance was lack lustre and pedestrian vs the Knights who put themselves into that game with far more spirit - as much as i love the roosters and hate poor referring i think knights were the better and more spirited team last night ... their defense was damn good all night

I think everybody agrees the refs were terrible. All those saying that the ball being carried over the dead ball line doesnt really matter, IT DOES, its a rule. You cant just say, 'oh well there was nobody chasing him and he would of scored, who cares if he knocked it on, he was gonna score anyway'. Rules are rules and the refs dont know them. I agree with everybody saying the roosters had chances to put them away. But when you take into account all the howlers, the refs made it an 16 point turnaround which is effectively 18-6, to the roosters. Its hard to put a team away when every game changing call is going against you. As i said previously though, the roosters obviously lacked a bit of hunger last night to win a small mid season match against a spirited knights outfit. I think most of us would all agree that at the end of the day the roosters still have the most talented roster and if they can manage to make the top 4 and get up for the finals, they still have a massive chance

I dont think he'll get fined because he didn't question their 'integrity' although i dont think theres actually any integrity to question. I would like him to blow up one week live Tooves and really let everyone know how crap the refs have been with us

He's already been blasted by the Broncos, Cowboys and Raiders this year for controversial refereeing decisions that made no sense and led to losses. If they haven't dropped him yet, it's never happening. He'll probably have to butcher a couple of finals before they finally give him the chop.

Mate you're kidding yourself if you think on current form Maloney is a match winner, he is struggling. JWH is a good footballer, no denying, however he gives away too many stupid penalties that's why refs pick on him. He also looks about 5-10kgs heavier this year and I think his mobility has suffered for it. Only a roosters supporter would back Pearce. I'm also pretty sure SBW played the full 80, but he is going to struggle this month for obvious reason. Maloney had a season out of the box last year but it was one great season in 5 or 6 years of first grade. He is down on confidence and without him to create, they'll struggle.

The Roosters still won the GF 2013 and they are an excellent team and up there to win 2014 crown (I'm not a Roosters fan mind you) but your analysation is wrong because Maloney is a game winner (barring the refs) Hargraves is as tougher forward as I've seen and never gives up (but for some strange reason the refs always pick on him) Pearce will get better as the crucial games come on . Don't forget that SBWilliams didn't play the whole game but when he came on he created a try. But all in all it all boiled down to the refereeing of this game and no matter what players you have it counts for nothing if every decision goes against you, its demoralising and it has to deflate a teams performance. The knights were lucky and can put this game as one that they scraped through with a little help from their friends in the middle and in the video room.

Your No 2 that was an absolute disgrace by Badger, at that point the ref lost control of the game and that is why he took it off on Hargreaves, your No 3 was another one where the video ref should have intervened. isn't it why he's there for? Your No 5 was I think the curtail decision where both the ref and the video ref got it completely wrong and gave the game to the Knights and the roosters should have got the penalty. But all in all this game was a disgraceful performance by a referee that should not be anywhere near a first class game, but nothing will be done because the refs are always right and they cover each others a__s that has always been the case. Shame on the NRL if this bloke gets another first class game next week and is not dropped.

Ok whatever your excuses say above but the Knights are not finals material and the only way that they can win a game against the top teams is with controversy and stupid decisions made by a dope like Badger, The roosters are a great team and they will recover but I wonder how the Knights will go against the Rabbits? Btw I'm not a rooster fan I'm a Rabbits fan and we are going to annihilate the Knights next week but that depends on the ref and please NRL don't put that dope Badger there because if he has a game like he did last night then he might not walk out of that ground alive lol, his performance was absolutely disgraceful and not fit for a 1st grade game like last nights.

I think it was SBW that should have gone to the bin..

I'm not sure if we're talking bout the same incident (the Rochow forward pass no try ?) but I thought that when Rochow changed directions he almost ran behind Leilua as RTS was coming forward to tackle Rochow. Which is why Leilua got taken out. Leilua was in front of Rochow anyway so Rochow could pass to him. Mamo was behind Rochow I thought but the ball that Rochow delivered was forward. I think that if Rochow had passed the ball correctly there may have been a case for Leilua obstructing RTS. I think Badger marched JWH more for the manner in which he said 'Thats was a effing forward pass !!'. You'll notice that JWH was the one who tackled Roberts over the line and he was spitting chips as soon as Roberts touched down. Badger and Co. probably had their eye on JWH anyway and probably thought that JWH was being too aggressive. Still though. The Roosters should have made more of their opportunities..

I didn't think Maloney got the ball down either so thats fair enough. RTS was not offside when Rochow got pinged for the forward pass. Re watch the play and you'll see that RTS was probably the furtherest back out of all the Roosters when play began. RTS runs toward Rochow when Rochow pivots and Leilua (unintentionally) almost interferes with RTS trying to tackle/stop Rochow. Rochow chose that particular pass for a couple of reasons. Get past RTS (who was onside) and his body position in regards to how he was holding the ball. The basketball pass was the easiest and fastest way to pass in that situation. The refs were after JWH and they got him as well. Not sure why, I thought maybe coz the Knights have been complaining about his elbows when he runs (Buderus & Smith have been injured tackling him in the past). Although if you see those incidents JWH's forearms/elbows were 'North/South' so there's no issues according to the rules. Last game Gidley was going off at the refs about JWH and they told him firmly that JWH was fine. The refs behaviour in previous matched against the Knights regarding JWH have been fair I thought so not sure what was going on for this match. Mason got told to play the ball. The ref doesn't need to say 'Held' first. It's happened countless times when a player continues after the ref says 'play the ball'. Ref normally just brings play back. Unfortunately for the Chooks, not this time. Maloney was unlucky I thought with his disallowed try off the kick. Last week against Penrith Pearce did something similar and the video ref ruled against him. This week if we used the logic from the Pearce decision then Maloney should have got the try. Unfortunately for the Chooks the tries were both disallowed despite the Pearce & Maloney being on the 'opposite' sides of the equation (Pearce was defender last week, Maloney was attacker this week) and the video refs ruled against the Chooks both times. Despite those calls the Chooks still had the roster to put away the Knights and they didn't..

1. The first try I lean towards it being a try (due to Mata'utai's touch, I though that knocked it free) but if the ref thought it was a loose carry he has no choice but to call the penalty 2. its still dissent no matter what way you dress it 3. I didn't hear held (out of my one ear) looking at it as a tackle there was always momentum so therefore mason couldn't have been held. The refs would've called held and the tackle number if he was held, telling someone to play the ball when you haven't called them held would be poor refereeing 4. We really need someone behind the in goal like at the Aukland 9s. Refs stay in the field of play generally and we need a referee who has eyes on the in goal. Wrong call, but the ref can't see through Mata'uatai 5. I'm pretty sure the penalty was for friend reacting and instigating the incident, JWH had nothing to do with it

1. The Maloney disallowed try number one was in the act of scoring, therefore the responsibility falls on him to secure the ball. It coming free regardless is defined as a lose carry. It's that simple. 2. Maloney's second disallowed try was again the correct call. There was zero evidence to support that he got the ball down both live and multiple replays from perfect angles. It showed Rochow got his leg under the ball. Again, it's that simple. 3. Sione Mata'utia taking the ball over the dead ball line sits 50/50 on me for the sheer fact that ball was never going to be contested by the Roosters and was always going to go dead. Furthermore, I can bring up plenty of examples when the ball is well and truly over the line despite it's final bounce being within the in goal, yet there isn't a fuss. Why? Because common sense prevails and the game goes on. That itself is just one of many straws Roosters fans are clutching to in order to justify their loss and probably the cheapest of them all. 4. The Mason call is perhaps the only call that I tend to agree with everyone on. He should have been told to play the ball but you can't really guarantee it impacted the outcome of the game. 5. Maria being sent for 10 is 50/50. I have little doubt there was more said than Robinson said in the presser but if that is what he said, then man, that's a bit of a shame, especially when RTS (or SBW? Not sure) was a mile offside in taking down BJ Leilua. A professional foul is any deliberate misconduct that prevents the scoring of a try, so he should have walked. But lets be honest, the Roosters should have put Newcastle away in the open 20 minutes when they had all the pressure in the world. Credit needs to be given to their defensive effort in that period. That's where the game was won, not because of the woeful decisions from Badger, but because the Roosters couldn't get the job done when it was needed. Newcastle's youth is incredibly talented and after tonight, I think we'll be hearing a lot more. Given the Tigers are touted as the next club to potentially dominate the NRL (Like Storm in recent years), I have a feeling, a bias one at that, that we could be up there :)

You guys won a premiership on the back of crap refereeing and a 3m forward pass. Get over it. JWH is a decent footballer but has no brains. Pearce is massively over rated. Jake friend is your only decent kicker of the ball and alistair cook is in better form than Maloney. That's why you're struggling.

On the refereeing. Maloney never got the ball down legitimately; the first time he tunnel balled it forward (he was facing sideways) to avoid being stripped and the second it was on the leg of the Knights player (Rochow I think) not the ground. RTS should've been sin binned for being a postcode offside when the referees pinged Rochow for passing forward.. to get the ball past RTS - Roosters got a very fortunate call there. The dead ball restart was an error, but honestly it's a dumb thing to complain about, the ball was dead for all practical purposes and the Roosters could've avoided that by not kicking the ball too far.

2. Sin binning JWH for saying "that was ****in* forward" We hear this all the time.Harsh? 3. Mason was told to play the ball (roosters players stop) Badger then allows him to play on and the Knights score.Legal? 5.JWH reacts the same way Smiths reacts but like the majority of 50/50 calls penalty goes to the Knights. If you couldn't see Badgers bias VOR, you are kidding yourself.

the only one you have grounds on is number 4. Roosters should of been good enough to put this team away but they showed little intensity...maybe SBW has them all nil by mouth.

I wonder if Robbo will cop a 10k fine for that Benny. Interesting enough, Badger coached in the Souths district and supports them.

no i think there's been definite pressure to create some sort of fairytale for the team, especially following last weeks disaster when the rise for alex match result didnt quite follow the feel good script. Unfortunately the chooks were the team the knights played the week after that disaster. Definitely the refs would have been pressured, seeing as they can in some cases single-handedly influence the outcome of a game. Hence: 1.the disallowed maloney try 2.sin binning hargreaves for no real offence 3.allowing mason the double play 4.ignoring the dead ball restart 5.the penalty against hargreaves for defending friend at least 2 knights tries were a result of those disgraceful calls and 1 chooks try was disallowed those those calls. You do the maths. someone needs to be held accountable...but of course wont.

"The ball carried over the dead ball line" I saw it,my 10 year old saw it,Gus saw it, Robbo spotted it and i'm assuming many others at home did as well but the ones that matter and are trained and being paid to do a job didn't see it but will be back in the box again next week. Absolute ZERO accountability.They are untouchable!!!!