South Sydney back-rower Glenn Stewart has admitted he took a dive to deny North Queensland a try during his team’s 30-12 NRL loss on Monday night.
Stewart fell after colliding with Cowboys forward Ethan Lowe as Michael Morgan scooted over for a try on the stroke of halftime.
Referee Adam Devcich referred the decision to the video referees who came back with a no-try verdict.
Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston expressed his extreme frustration towards the referee over the decision.
Devcich said to Thurston both he and the video referees felt Stewart was unfairly obstructed by Lowe.
But on Tuesday at a Rabbitohs’ recovery session, Stewart admitted to taking a dive to draw the obstruction ruling, describing it as “gamesmanship”.
“To be honest I wasn’t going to get there (to tackle Morgan) so I tried something and it came off,” he said.
“Everyone wants to win. I wasn’t going to get to the bloke so I had a crack and fortunately it went our way.
“In a game you do everything you can to win and I just had a crack.
Steward made no apologies for his actions.
“You have seen other people try and do it. It’s within the rules and while a lot of people out there (on social media) are probably giving it to me, we are out there trying to win,” he said.
“If we had won by two or four points I probably would be copping it a lot more, but we would still have the two (competition) points.
“I was pretty surprised to be honest (they didn’t award the try).
“It is gamesmanship, a fair bit goes on week to week and, if I cop it about it, I cop it about it.”
cedric
Guest
there are that many dumby runners it's becoming a bit too much, but good on the teams for trying everything. I replayed that play in slowmo, the last dumby runner started to crab sideways near Stewart, it didn't look good for the Cowboys to me. Also to many of us reckon our teams are hard done by just like the cows/dogs/warriors blah blah......
Tom G
Guest
Players will always try it on, this is down to the people who are meant to be officiating.
Judge Holden
Roar Guru
Forget Leonardo Dicaprio, how in hell has Glenn Stewart never won an Oscar?
NQ Cowboy
Guest
I don't blame Stewart. I blame the video refs for the awful decision to award the try. Lucky for the Cowboys that the disallowed try didn't affect the outcome.
Jeremy
Guest
No surprise. The NRL has let this attitude get hold of the sport. The referees either gets fooled into giving a penalty or at worse they tell the player to stop milking it. So how does the player lose out by trying gamesmanship? They don't. At worst the referee tells him to stop milking and at best they get the penalty. NRL HQ are too busy banning punches and chasing lost grand final rings.
Alvis
Guest
This stuff happens all the time and has done so for years. Rugby league "fans" are becoming the worlds biggest whingers. Refs make mistakes and they make them against every team, they always have. It all evens out in the long run. There is no conspiracy. If your looking for perfect decisions all the time it ain't going to happen. Sterlo thought the ref got both disallowed try decisions right, I thought the refs got them wrong Stewart's only mistake was to talk about it afterwards. If all your getting from the sport is anger and frustration it's time to find something else to follow. I enjoy the game even if I don't agree with the ref. time to lighten up a bit and just enjoy the game for what it is.
HarryT
Guest
I thought his acting concussed the week before was a much better performance. Reynolds is destined to win an Oscar but Luke has to stop winking at the camera. Apparently the Gladiator has organised Thursday morning practices at NIDA now that they have got rid of the wrestling coaches. Souths, the Pride and Prejudice of the League.
SpongeBob
Guest
Exactly, you need to take every single play and apply the same rules irregardless of where it happens. Too many calls are only made because it's near the goal line. Nowhere in the rule book does it have different rules depending if you're 40m out or 10m out.
Dav
Guest
without wanting to go down this track again ... but year in year out as a cows supporter you just marvel at it? it just goes to show the bias to Sydney teams ... i mean, even the player knew .... wow! Hand of Foran who admitted he touched the ball afterwards, and as Stewart said, he would have taken the 2 points if they won.
Dav
Guest
I am a Cows supporter, was at the pub with a group of Souths supporters and everyone agreed that it was a try, we were "all shocked", they laughed and said well best to get them out early, I said your kidding. we'll still get one in the finals if they let us get there and they agreed. haha ... mmmm jeez what do you do?
ferret
Guest
Can't blame Stewart as everyone tries gamesmanship if they can get away with it. What I can't understand is how you can obstruct a defender when the attacker is already goal-side / try-side of them? It's like a run away try. Support players can run where they like in support. They don't have to get out of the way of a chasing defender.
mickel
Guest
How could the video ref be so at-odds with the commentators? Change the rules so that there is a penalty (eg 10 in the bin) for those who want to try this sort of 'gamesnanship'. What kind of example is this for young players who are given the message that cheating is ok to win?
Hammerhead
Guest
Pity the refs don't or can't apply common sense. FOX commentators were stunned it was called obstruction.
Gareth
Guest
I'd have given this soccer-playing nancy ten in the bin for the professional foul.