The Manly Sea Eagles look unlikely to lose the two competition points won in their victory over the Melbourne Storm on Saturday night despite a critical error related to the sin bin.
Two Manly players were allowed to return to the ground almost two full minutes earlier than they should have been, and Melbourne Storm officials were furious.
Melbourne Storm football manager Frank Ponissi was caught on camera letting loose at an NRL official in response to the incident.
The players – Api Koroisau and Dylan Walker – had been sent to the sin bin because of an altercation at halftime that also saw Melbourne’s Curtis Scott sent off.
Melbourne Storm boss Dave Donaghy reportedly called Brian Canavan and Todd Greenberg during the game to request an explanation for the early return of Manly’s players.
The incident prompted suggestions that Manly were potentially at risk of having their two competition points from the win docked, despite a comprehensive 24-4 scoreline.
However such an event seems unlikely to pass as Ponissi suggested that, given the game was not a particularly close one, the Storm will not look to press a case for the result to be overturned.
“It was obviously an error and he made a mistake but I personally don’t want to dwell on it,” Ponissi said.
“He made a mistake and, hopefully, it doesn’t happen again.”
Dutski
Roar Guru
Wait... are you remembering how Manly improved once Lussick was off the park... And this is because...
Tom
Guest
Rugby League administration made to look amateur again... surely not? What national sporting competition allows this sort of rubbish to even be possible?
Emcie
Roar Guru
All the Fox regulars were absolutely frothing over it. Ooooh, potentialy something that might be dramatic!! Stop any discussion of the actual game and focus all efforts on someone starting the timer at the wrong wrong time! Riviting stuff... I thought Vonnie and Vossie were better than that but apparently they're just click bait merchents like the rest of them
Tom G
Guest
Andrew Voss really needs to take sedative... the guy was carrying on post game like he'd found the Zapruder tape. How on Earth anyone could suggest that Manly could have points deducted has lost their mind. Voss spent at least twenty minutes of his call dedicated to this one issue which is twenty minutes more than the Storm spent thinking about it. Listening to Bellamys press conference, he gave no time to the issue. Being professional he knows that the issue had no bearing at all on the result
kk
Guest
Normally a game having 24 Errors, 25 penalties and 4 sin bins would be a turn off. With a cast of 34, Perenara turned into Tarantino and gave us his version of 'Pulp Fiction' When the camera panned to the coaches box, the pain was real. Tarantino loves Australia and has stated he has two more films left in him. May be Henry could assist if he chose to do a remake of the classic 'Sporting Life'.
Bee bee
Guest
Cannot understand why people are calling for micro officiating on forward passes whilst complaining about micro officiating on offside. There has been some great games this year. It’s amazing how good the game can be when the rules aren’t constantly pushed. Why blame the refs. A lot of these penalties are simply players refusing to adhere to the rules.
Fish
Guest
Like I said I don’t know valid the comment was as I was enjoying the bit of biff. I think the point they were making was that they think Fox Sports missed the initial stopping of time. Putting their clock at odds with the official match clock. Like I said it was a comment on another site, so it might be valid or it might be rubbish. In the end it is just semantics as nothing came of that two minutes, and had no impact on the game. An operational issue that needs to be sorted by those in charge of it. Scott’s brain snap was the issue that impacted the result, not the extra time issue.
steveng
Roar Rookie
The sin bin is 'game time' only and not virtual time!
steveng
Roar Rookie
Well said 'Peter Phelps', you are right on the money! NRL fans have become masochists and glutens for punishment, watching this wonderful game of ours! Its being ruined by 'penalty fests' especially in the 10 meter line. where its virtually impossible to know (players included) where the next penalty is coming from. very sad!
Karma Miranda
Guest
Agreed. Neither the Home team nor the Visitors have control of the game clock. As we saw, there is a big difference between Game time, and actual elapsed time, which may well have been spot on 10 minutes. Will we be running substitutes on and off willy-nilly now without anyone from the NRL bothering to check?
jamesb
Guest
The timekeeper should be an NRL official. It has to be independent. The clubs themselves can have timekeepers, just to keep track of time, especially with the sin bins. I really can't see how Manly can lose the two points.
souvalis
Guest
More importantly why did API only get 10 ? Would have loved Henry to have told his microphone why he sent Walker.. And how is a penalty in the middle of the field,J.Turbo in any way related to a slow the game down penalty defending your line ? No doubt Manly were deserved victors,but why is such a simple game getting too hard to follow ?
Peter Phelps
Guest
Perhaps I wouldn't but watching some of the penalty fests this year, it would be hard to see how many of the newly converted NRL fans down in Melbourne don't get frustrated by those displays and go back to watching that awful AFL game. Being hard fast on the rules is a good thing but not if the cure kills the patient.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Apparently manly didn't actually have an official there (apparently its not mandatory for the visiting team) so it was the storm officials job to keep time. So who knows what's going on. Either way an NRL official is supposed to approve it anyway right?
Raugeee
Guest
Absolutely agree - I will vote with my feet if the over-reffing doesn't stop.
The Barry
Roar Guru
If it’s an NRL official’s fault Manly should keep their points. If they went back on early because of a Manly official they should lose the points regardless of what might have happened. Souths lost points when Scott Wilson was used as an illegal replacement. It’s unfortunate but that’s the way it’s always been and whether they had any influence on the result is irrelevant.
Kangajets
Guest
As someone who watches all sports I think the nrl fans should be reasonably happy . There have been some competitive nrl games this season ,with great skills .... unlike the afl which has been awful this season .
Paul
Roar Guru
Offical clocks at games have been an issue for at least the past 40 years. I remember watching a game at the SCG in the days when they used to stop the clock with 5 minutes to go and it took 9 minutes to play 5 minutes, with the favourites coming from behind to win. The NRL will have a look at it, but really it's more of awake up call to keep things correct and accurate in the timekeeping department, nothing more.
RandyM
Guest
Manly deserve to win just because of that try off the most impossible kick ever
Busty McCracken
Guest
No team deserved the two points? These Manly players have been put through the absolute wringer by the media, hung out to dry by their administrators, suffered some massive losses. They Dug their heels in and beat the storm on their home ground, i reckon it showed enormous character and was a well deserved win.