Five talking points from Manly Sea Eagles vs Penrith Panthers NRL elimination final

its obviuos that the walker try was either seen from a good angle by the touchy or bunker to be off side as you only need to get the right angle view to tell or to map out on the ground the positions of players which is easy to tell so therefore a quick decisions and the Peachy try as we have all seen is hard to tell and therefore needed a longer time to replay the footage and even then it was hard.

I agree. Manly, Trent Barrett, Dylan Walker, Cherry Evans et al have been a dark cloud hovering over the referees all year with their continual whingeing and blaming refs for their inept play. After a while the refs psychologically and unintentionally turn off them. no wonder the 50 - 50's pass them by

I heard that spider cam caught the moment where Peachey did not touch the ball and (FFS) let's hope that shuts everyone up on the subject. It was a Try. The obvious question it raises though, is why couldn't we have seen this angle on the night? Up til now the camera has only been used for fancy visual effect, bit would be a possible solution for many cases that are difficult to judge at ground level. Offside and Forward passes spring to mind. Too logical for words to be up above the action. As far as the use of The Bunker goes, Heaven forbid we start calling Uate type try efforts on field, when technology shows that he dropped it, just to give people an extra minute of their lives back. Surely getting it right is key. Just imagine if Penrith had done a Uate and it was awarded to them on the spot. Barrett would be back on his horse, this time bitching the opposite argument, no doubt - as to why didn't they go to the Bunker. Or would they have just marched back to half way and said well done Panthers. Fair Try?

Sutton has changed his spots on the peachey try - normally in RL any dropped ball is called a knockon even if it comes off the chest or head or goes 20 metres backwards - for him to say try overwhelms 10 years of ref practice of saying knock on when in doubt - bizarre but having 2 western Sydney teams in the last six is useful

" Top refs in the country find Thurston the biggest handful to deal with" quote from Womblat. So according to you when the bunker goes against Manly it is all because of Walker yet when Thurston is livid because he gets dud decisions in big matches it is nothing to do with his attitude to the refs. Either way it is just an opinion with exactly zero evidence. I could argue that the bunker goes against Manly because he is a Penrith fan but without one piece of evidence it is just another dull conspiracy theory. All opinions aren't equal but are allowed to be expressed.

The weekend's semi-final round left me feeling more convinced than ever that the NRL seems to favour certain sides for strategic reasons. I wish I could've placed a multibet on Sportsbet on penalty counts or controversial fifty-fifty calls favouring certain sides and players instead of the first try scorer or winning margins. We now have, unsurprisingly, two Qld sides left, two Western Sydney sides and of course NRL's favourite child, Melbourne Storm.

When you are talking to all the top refs in the country ask them why the bunker would be influenced by Walkers legal antics on the field, which are entirely unrelated to him being ruled offside, when making a decision. The reply would be fascinating. Your hate for Walker is no big deal to me as I've upset plenty in the last couple of years who have declared Manly were likely wooden spooners and heading down the gurgler. Everyone was blamed for this looming disaster from Bozo down to all the players except a few. I didn't recieve one .sensible response to the question as to how they were so sure we were stuffed when I was sure we were on the up. Walker is just one of a huge number at Manly who have been slammed but so what? According to your logic Walker has hampered our progress this year and you are welcome to your entirely valid opinion.

Wild Eagle, perhaps I should have qualified my response. In no way do I think that Walker's niggling tactics have any impact on the officials decision making. I just think they are counter productive to his team in relation to the firing up of their opposition teams, which was obvious last night with Penrith really fired up to prove him wrong.

And all I'm hearing is your opinion and nothing else. This being an opinion site, that seems appropriate. And yours is not more important, correct or reliable than mine. Democracy's great, isn't it. I never disputed Walker's ability, he's not all that but he's pretty awesome. But his distasteful tactics are shocking and have worked against Manly. When Walker started on the Raiders Manly were up 20-6 and it was soon 20 all. Last week against Penrith he sledged hell out of them at 28-0 up, real gutsy. When Walker started on the Panthers in this game they were well on the back foot. Flat track bully personified. I never saw Ennis walk over and abuse a bench. Fulton may have been a pain but as a player he left Walker for dead. Wally was a king sledger but there's a difference between gamesmanship and thuggery. You speak to any top ref in the country today and they'll tell you JT is the biggest handful to deal with, but at least he respects his opponents. Walker's behaviour drips with disdain. Keep Walker. You sound like you want and deserve him. Don't hold your breath on those 50-50's though. While he's around doing his thing you won't get them.

This Goose who finds it so sweet will be a bit sour when his team gets dudded by the bunker, but of course he won't be wingeing because that isn't acceptable

You're a goose

Not blaming the refs Paul, if you've read my posts since the game. Just pointing out the reason why we have the current system in place. Management 101, spread the risk. Or am I precluded from making a comment because my team was dudded by the referees? If that was the case the Roar would be deafeningly silent. The refs have dudded most teams at one stage or another.

He scored two legitimate tries but they allowed only one and did pretty well. I would be happy if he dropped the sledging and improved his skill level. The Oz cricket team had huge success with sledgers in the team but I would prefer if they didn't over do it myself.

Yes I am curious as to why Walkers try was disallowed. But you don't provide any answers on anything because it is just your opinion and nothing else. Dylan Walker has just been announced as one of the centres of the year on ABC radio and Is part of a team who made the 8 against all predictions . Any judge of NRL could see that Walker helped to distract the Raiders and help us to a win. Is Walker the only sledger who has cost teams victories thru the Bunker? Ennis seemed to transform the Sharks into a team of pests who somehow won last year GF. See your imaginings don't stack up with the history of sledging. Fulton was deeply unpopular as a player with the refs but won 3 grand finals. You seem to forget Neville Glover and his affect on finals football. I don't like Walkers sledging personally but to say that proves it gives you a less chance of winning is daft. Sometimes it might and on others they will help you win. I recall Manly winning some games in finals with Terry Hill and co against the Sharks and sledging their way to wins. I've never known a Sharks team like this one who sledge and carry on.. Can you not remember them winning the GF last year?

Barrett has got to be the biggest whinger since Geof Toovey....what is it with Manly coaches??? Decisions dont go their way and they spit the dummy big time...... And as for Cherry Evans trying to intimidate the refs( similar to Bozo Fulton ).....he should learn to suck it up.....a very poor role model.... in football some days you get the good decisions and some days you dont..... Manly have the reputation as the worst whingers in the NRL....how sweet it is for all the other teams remaining in the finals series....

Do you even have any charge games? Peachey got up straight away his nodding his head to team mates and slapping his chest indicating that's where the ball came off. Now there's every chance he was fibbing but your version of events that he got up looking sheepish and shrugging his shoulders is 100% fiction. The Slater try is completely different to the Walker one. Slater was at least a metre onside. The fact you're making an issue of that shows that you have an agenda to push and won't let truth get in the way.

I'm not a fan of either of these sides but, Peachey looked so unsure and 'NO' celebration that he scored a try, his face told the story 'that he touched the ball' he even shrugged his shoulders after, when asked if it was a try!!! That decision was a farst and the bunker does not work in off angle situations especially ruling Walkers feet in front of the ball and offside. If they had cameras in line with the play, then fair enough but, to rule that his feet were in front of the kicker is a farst especially when the camera angle was from the side and from behind!!! The same thing happened (at virtually the same spot and camera angles) in the Storm v Parra game with Slater and they ruled Slater OK and he got a try, where is the consistency??? A complete and utter JOKE!!! How can fans trust and give the bunker and refs any credibility and respect???

Last night was a tough gig under the Manly banner but I' m moving on. Back on the horse, SFS the best, on my way to Sharks v NQ...bunker supporter banner packed, may the best team win.

I salute all the Manly fans for being passionate and talking up their team's season, which to be fair, has been good. For a sense of balance, I think it might be pointed out that the Panthers team is very young and inexperienced. The halfback is 19, the fullback has played around 15 games in total, the 5/8th is in his debut season and has yet to rack up 10 games. The captain was missing and so was our most experienced prop McKendry. Our back row had another debutant with CHN also in his first season as a first grader. The hype at the start of the season for the Panthers was ridiculous with some tipping them for a premiership. Those building up the hype, completely overlooked the fact that the Panthers are a young raw team, with very little experience in the spine positions except for Wallace. DCE has more experience than Cleary/May/Edwards combined. To beat Manly was a great achievement and rounds off a good season, regardless of the Bronco's result.