Sea Eagles stump Knights at soggy Brookvale

Apologies to that linesman ! Seems he did call for them to look at it the bunker ! So the referee overruled or ignored his decision ?

NRL is a straightforward game. The teams battle between the 20s for much of it until the ref pulls out a bizarre penalty and the non offending team breaks the deadlock by attacking the opponents goal-line and scores 30-40% of the time. Nothing better displays this than the last 2 nights. The Knights make a strong comeback at Brooky with a bizarre offside decision (after an Eagles non try) and the Broncs lead by 12-0 and are threatened by Souths after 2 penalties and a resulting dodgy try from a kick without a bunker check on offside or even a Channel Nine side-on view.

You seem to have overlooked the try disallowed to Uate the play earlier when he challenged for the bomb & scored when the Newcastle player couldn't handle. How the hell did Uate push him in the back when he was challenging?? Fair try disallowed....his 2nd try was not a try so break even! How about the 40/20 from Newcastle that wasn't? How about all the penalties awarded against Manly for ruck infringements yet none against the Knights for exactly the same thing? Get over the whingeing!!

I also think Manly put the cue in the rack once they led 18-8. To be up by 10 points in that weather always seemed enough. They got a little loose after that. However if Uate's try had been disallowed, as had happened to him a little earlier, Manly would have kept pressing and most likely scored again. The Knights were desperately unlucky. But it's too simplistic to say they lost on the back of that one call.

Exactly Manly was leading 12 - 8 at the time so regardless of the try or no try we can't say how that last 20 minutes would have unfolded. Different if the Knights led Manly 14 - 12 and Uate had "scored" that try at the death and it indeed became a match winning scoring play.

I'm with you Brian, however I would speed up the game by allowing the ref to make an initial decision. Should a try be awarded then let the team celebrate and allow the kicker to line up the conversion. Meanwhile the bunker can review the decision and overturn it if applicable. Simple.

To a point I agree but even passing it on to the bunker is no guarantee the right decision will be reached. You have to admit there have been some terrible bunker decisions.

Agree with you HY. When the try was scored there was still 20 minutes left on the clock. Poor decision yes but there was still more than ample time for the Knights to come back. They just weren't good enough.

The bunker looks to be here to stay so why not seriously redefine its purpose. My idea is to remove the unnecessary pressure for the referees to be unnaturally perfect by taking ALL scoring incidents/occurrences and making them the total domain of the Bunker. Referees have enough to deal with without all the second-guessing commentary that delights nobody but bogans. Someone gets the ball over the line - Bunker decides. Field goal - Bunker decides. Conversions - bunker decides. Everything else is the job of the referee.

I think " facetious " is the word your looking for .

He clearly dropped the ball ! And the linesman had a clear view of the put down ? Surely he must have had a query about it particularly in those conditions ? But no ! What's the point of having the bunker to eliminate mistakes around scoring if you don't use it ? I would review every try despite the hold up to the game, as we cannot trust the on field officials with their decision making.

Whoever/s fault it was for the Manly non-try being given,must be sacked. Of course they won't,cause the NRL have no standards,and roll out the usual crap of "a mistake was made blah blah blah.... cop out". Until the next major ref/s blunder. No refs sacked from this,then at the very least Archer must be sacked then - That won't happen either. Newcastle were robbed. Ref/s involved in this wrong decision,either hopeless or corrupt.Or hopelessly corrupt. What a disgrace. From the same sport with so many bludging middle to upper management in the NRL,and add to the crap fight of NOT having the exact salary cap known for next season yet.The reason/s for that are a cop-out.There is no excuse. A so called professional sport,that is anything but,that is ran by hopeless and/or corrupt morons. NRL = No Real Leaders.

Agreed eagleJack and MOC, Tony Archer's influence extends to how Rugby League refereeing will be conducted for the next decade or more. That is a bigger problem than the $$$ wars at Moore Park.

Exactly. He is the boss but just sidesteps the bad decisions and drop the refs in it. I have always been respectful of refs and believed that you should play the whistle, but the NRL refs currently demand no respect from players, coaches or supporters, and rightly so. I wish they would toughen up and referee the rules as stated. Keep them onside, penalise high tackles, penalise obstruction (block players protecting catchers especially), get the trainers off the field, use the bin and send off (tripping FFs being let go with fines!), walking off the mark, interfering the players playing the ball, voluntary tackles.....AAAAAAAGGGHHHHHH...............rant over.......need.....to.....lie....down

Sooner or later some angry punter will say enough is enough. This technology was brought in to make the correct decision. This may have affected the outcome of a match where thousand's of dollars are won or lost so the NRL could be liable by not using it to get correct decision. If there is money involved they are obligated to make sure every thing is above board.

What I find most amusing is that a failure of a referee in Archer is now the voice of reason on all rules and decisions. I'd say he is the problem. And he's more than happy to throw his team under the bus at any opportunity. Which I can't imagine instils much confidence.

If a player purposely dropped a ball while scoring a try they would be investigated for match tampering with the threat of criminal charges. How does this not raise the same questions of the officials including the NRL? Now I am sure it's just a stuff-up but where is the accountability. If Tony Archer can see the mistakes, then he should get his a$$ into the bunker and do the job himself. Considering the reliance of the NRL on the gambling $ I would expect that they would want to be seen as being completely impartial and follow the rules as they are written. Instead we see avoidable mistakes, an inability to referee by the rule book and refs clearly officiating to keep the contest close, but still allowing the dominant team to win in the end. Although it is surely above board, it Looks like Don King is involved.

The olfactories are working overtime. Maxwell House percolating.

I had a hole in my raincoat and my suit jacket got drenched. Honestly expected to see two roos; two emus; two blue tongues and two of every other creature heading down Pittwater Road toward an ark at Manly Wharf. Uate: no try. Bad luck for the Knights. They can't catch a break this year. They played really well last night and took it up to the boys. Still, you can't say that but for that decision the Knights would have won, because it would have been a different game from that point to the one I watched through the deluge last night. We'll never know. J Turbo top game. T Turbo safely back from injury. Greenie had a good game. He and Cherry have worked really well together after a couple of weeks settling in period at the start of the year. Gee I'd like to see the Knights get a couple of wins though.

Yes, very worrying that Maxwell intervened as the senior video bunker official without even checking the footage and giving the go ahead for the try. He also broke protocol by doing that. I'd have a look at his bank account if I were the NRL as what other possible reason would he do that for?