Canterbury coach Des Hasler believes NRL referee Henry Perenara was wrong to award a stripping penalty in golden point that resulted in his team’s one-point loss to Parramatta.
The Bulldogs fought back from 12-2 down on Thursday to force extra period but didn’t get a chance with the ball after Michael Lichaa was penalised for stealing from Tepai Moeroa.
Hasler admitted his team squandered a host of chances to complete the comeback, but insisted Perenara – who was tipped off by assistant referee Dave Munro – made the wrong call.
The decision marched the Eels downfield before Mitchell Moses nailed the game-winner.
“I thought the penalty in the extra time was a pretty tough call to be honest. I think it was the pocket referee. I think he got it wrong,” Hasler said.
“But we had other opportunities, it was a tough game.”
Hasler also claimed the officials’ were also too lenient in the ruck, but was particularly irked by what he insists is a rare penalty in the extra period.
“You have to go back a long way to find one, particularly from the pocket,” he said.
“I think it gets down to that stage, the calls, there’s never anyone offside. But we probably had opportunities earlier in the game we made some dumb plays.”
One of those included fullback Will Hopoate’s horror attempted pass to Marcelo Montoya early in the match, which was resulted in the rookie being sin-binned for denying a try-scoring opportunity.
It was a shocking start to another lacklustre first-half effort from the Bulldogs, who were held tryless in the opening period for the fourth straight match.
Hasler’s side have only scored more than eight points in the opening 40 minutes just once this year, however, the two-time premiership-winning coach denied it’s a major concern.
“I thought we had a couple of try-scoring opportunities there. One they knocked down, which was offside, and then the other one we squandered in the first half,” he said.
Stand-in captain Aiden Tolman, who courageously punched out 147 metres and a game-high 54 tackles in an 82-minute effort, was at a loss to explain their attacking woes.
“For whatever reason it is, we just can’t get across the line and that was the perfect example there tonight. So disappointing to lose in golden point like that,” he said.
The defeat was the Bulldogs’ sixth in seven games, leaving them in 13th spot and needing to win six of their remaining eight games to make the finals.
steveng
Roar Rookie
You make too much sense and that is something that is very lacking in the NRL, 'stop it imediatley' before the NRL takes up your suggestions lol
Michael Keeffe
Roar Guru
Spot on TB as soon as that ball came loose the refs were doomed either way. Both teams played poorly and had plenty of chances to ice the game before then.
Dave_S
Roar Rookie
Yeah happy to see the back of golden point. Pointless.
Jimmmy
Guest
Quick thought TB. Obvious strip , penalty . Obvious drop , scum/ ball to other side. Inconclusive, play the ball . There is no perfect solution but worth a thought.
Concerned Observer
Guest
It's not a great penalty but it still is one. Perenara had called held and he was ordering players off him, the fact that the dogs player kept going, had a hand on the ball and it came free, there's not much room for anything else. I'm all for punishing loose carries but when the tackle's been made and it's time to play the ball... Overall, an astonishingly poor game. It didn't flow well. The bulldogs look lost and agonisingly slow, those repeat sets on Parra'a line were incredibly uninspired and it astounds me that no changes have been made. Parramatta were ever so slightly better though I think I can safely put a line through them for the premiership and I'm not even close to labelling them as top 8 certainties
PeterW
Guest
It's not just this game. There is problem of over-officiating and inconsistent officiating through the whole NRL. IMO it's a case of too many cooks. The Bunker is brought in to rectify possible errors on the field and they make more clangers than the refs do. So the bunker gets enlarged and more sophisticated and they make even more clangers. Much as I hate to say it we the NRL could learn from Union. They have one ref, two assistant refs on the touchlines and one TMO. They also have 30 players on the field. They make their share of errors but they make far fewer than in the NRL, with two refs on the field, two touchies and who knows how many in the bunker with all that technology. For me, that's way too many opinions and too many variables. On Thursday night the ref standing closest to the incident let it go. The ref further away called for the penalty. What wrong with having the 'pocket' ref say 'I think that was a strip. What do you reckon?' and the main ref agreeing or not. The game was stopped anyway, it was either a scrum or a penalty so, if the main ref wasn't sure they could have referred it. For example in Union the ref can ask a simple question such as 'Is there any reason why I can't award a try'. The TMO has a look, answers yes or no and gives the reason. Too easy! None of this try or no try call on the field. Just refer it and ask for an opinion. The same applies to 'tries' that result from forward passes. Just to finish off, what happened to pulling up forward passes from dummy half?
bbt
Guest
Brilliant!!!
Mantra
Guest
Time for a tap penalty only for minor breaches - didn't they have that once like Rugby so you couldn't kick for goal - I recall refs waving their arm up and down or was that scrum penalties and you couldn't kick for goal?
AGordon
Guest
Good ol Des has done it again. He completely diverted attention away from the REAL issues he should have been talking about, eg why his side has managed to score a total of 4 first half points in 2 games! The best player Canterbury had last night was Kenny Edwards. His mistakes cost his side at least the first try and other errors cost Parra field position. Without him, there was virtually no attack from the dogs for the first 60% of the game. It also seemed Canterbury were a protected species in the second half. Both sides committed flagrant fouls in the play the ball yet only one side received penalties in the second half. This Thursday game as a show piece for the NRL was tough watching. Kevvie can also scratch Norman & Embye off his list of JT replacements after that effort
Mantra
Guest
Max the forecast is -6 for Sunday morning but if its 5.30 it will be be above zero during the game - it starts to get colder much later. of course the raiders played in snow once but the poor Fijians played a rugby test in zero conditions the night before. The stat I would like to see is how many penalties go to the team behind on the scoreboard. It happened again last night for the Dogs to come back.
soapit
Guest
if ur gonna do that you'd have to limit the advantage from a penalty. refs are human and they dont want to be deciding games. wouldnt mind if the just allowed a tap only for most penalties excluding foul play and then blow away
HarryT
Guest
I can hear millions of league fans waving their arms and singing 'AMEN BRO'.
The Barry
Roar Guru
In an ideal world that would work but as Mushi says above, as soon as that gets introduced it would be an open season of knocking and bumping and jostling the ball without actually stripping it to slow the game down and have the defensive line set. I don't know what the solution is. While hypothetically it was probably a fair outcome in the context of that one decision in last nights game, you can't really just hand the ball back to the attacking player every time he drops it in a tackle. I hate to say it but I think we just need to suck it up and accept that sometimes those calls will go our way and sometimes they won't.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Of course it was, if you were an Eels fan. lol What about a Dogs fan????.
Broadly Speaking
Guest
The decisions referees make are forced due to the all crap that is allowed in every tackle and every play the ball. Coaches and players are forever looking for ways to get away with something somewhere because they know game managers want fewer stop/starts to ensure the appearance of a flowing game and the utopia of ideal statistics (penalties, scrums, field position etc.) where a referee is never seen as deciding the outcome of a game. These contrivances are at the expense of enforcing the laws of the game because once someone gets away with something, everyone is tries to get away with everything. Until a referee has to make a decision. Unfortunately referees should penalise everything to stop the rot, but they cannot and will not, which is the root cause of all these problems. I reckon get back to the fundamental laws of the game, WITH NO ALLOWANCES for any player trying to speed the game up or slow the play down.
Albo
Guest
I tend to agree Baz. I think the only way to eliminate the lottery of the stripping penalty, is to change the rule altogether. Something along the lines of " If a ball comes lose from an attacking player where there are two or more in the tackle, the ball is handed back to the attacking player to play the ball !"
Boz
Guest
I'd prefer they allow stripping - no matter how many in the tackle.
The Barry
Roar Guru
I think you're wrong Harry...the OAP's show much more energy and enthusiasm.
HarryT
Guest
The Doggies are a rabble. It's like watching pensioners racing from the community bus to the best seats in the bingo hall.
souvalis
Guest
Sounds good..why stop there ? On behalf of Newcastle fans let's do away with second halfs as well..