Newcastle coach Adam O’Brien was left bemused by a series of refereeing decisions that he thought went against his side as they went down 21-16 to St George Illawarra in a chaotic clash in Wollongong.
The Knights were not awarded a single set restart across the 80 minutes and had the chance to fight back late taken off them when the officials failed to spot an offside that could have given them the ball within Dragons territory late on.
“I don’t want to be that coach, but we had some guys have an offday and I reckon there were other people that had off days,” he said, wording carefully to avoid the ire of NRL officials.
“I’ll take that up during the week. I’m getting sick of taking it up. I’ve scheduled a meeting with them.
“I’ve left it alone for the first five rounds but there’s some inconsistencies that keep happening in the game that I need clarity on.
“I’ll have to add to that tonight. Was it 6-0 the set restarts? We’re a big team, we fight to play the ball quick and we often find our front. There’s some bizarre stuff.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got our own backyard to clean up. I don’t want to be the guy that uses that as an excuse. It’s frustrating but there’s some stuff there.”
St George Illawarra have been very poor of late but fired up late to get the job done, taking the lead through a 78th-minute field goal and then sealing the win with a cathartic try with seconds on the clock. The emotion as Mat Feagai cross was palpable.
The simple bits that Anthony Griffin’s men have lacked, especially in completion rates, were good and the service to their flanks was drastically improved on recent weeks.
“It wasn’t pretty and our execution wasn’t what it needed to be at times, but there were good periods that were built off long periods in possession,” said Anthony Griffin.
“We completed at nearly 90% and it allowed us to get a bit of rhythm against tired defence.
“A couple of weeks ago we probably don’t win that game, but we kept coming and they got what they deserved in the end.
“We’ll get a lot of good lessons. We’ve been learning hard lessons and it’s been costing us two points, but today, I’m really proud of them.”
The left edge of Moses Suli and Feagai fired, ably fed by Ben Hunt, were superb and created three of the Dragons’ four tries, though questions will still remain about the quality and cohesion of the Dragons’ defence.
This was just their second win since the BBQ-gate fiasco that derailed last season for St George Illawarra, and there are still attitude issues, too: not least on Zac Lomax, whose leap onto the back of Tyson Frizell after a Dragons try was a terrible look.
Knights veteran David Klemmer was still laying down the law to the centre at fulltime, and none of Lomax’s teammates appeared to disagree with him. Hook Griffin confirmed that he would be speaking to the player afterwards about the incident.
Newcastle are down the bare bones, with halfback Adam Clune the latest to join a growing injury list, and did well to be in the fight as long as they were.
Kalyn Ponga was back to something close to his best, though the talk will inevitably focus on his contract situation given the mid-game revelations that the Knights have withdrawn their offer to him.
“I think he showed today why he was worth the wait,” said O’Brien. “He showed last week and his performance today showed how committed he is to this team and we’re committed to him too.
“They’re still going through the process, both sides. Things are tracking along and my focus has been on the team and certainly the way he played today, his focus has been on the team too.”
“I thought we improved on stuff that we worked on in the week. We spent time on our attack and I thought we played some entertaining and effective footy.
“We have to fight our way out. We have to turn up every day with the attitude that we had this week.
“Our attitude hasn’t been bad, we’ve been on the back of four six-day turnarounds and we haven’t had a lot of time together. We did this week and I felt that came out.
“Unfortunately, you spend your week trying to improve in attack and we didn’t want to defend at points tonight.”
These are two teams that have been bang out of form and watching the first half hour, it was easy to see why. The only piece of quality – a 50m Ben Hunt drop out, into the wind, that found touch – resulted in the only points, off the boot of Zac Lomax.
(Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images)
When a try did come, it was underwhelming. Andrew McCullough pushed over some poor Knights defence to score from a yard out.
The Dragons suddenly kicked into life. Moses Mbye put Tariq Sims through a huge gap, but he inexplicably failed to pass to Feagai on the wing and was tackled by Ponga.
They’d live to rue the bombed try. A meandering Knights attack was defended passively by the Dragons, with four players failing to grab Ponga, who offloaded for Enari Tuala to score.
The Dragons would rue it yet more early in the second half. It took a bit of chaos, but Newcastle played with desperation while the Dragons stood and watched.
A kick went up and three Knights competed for it. Edrick Lee came down with it, passed off the floor to Leo Thompson and then Dane Gagai, who did a one-two with Tyson Frizell to score.
It was exceptional urgency, but again passive play from St George Illawarra. Referee Ben Cummins, who took a tumble in the rush to check the grounding, seemed to be making more effort on the football than some of the Dragons defenders.
Their effort to equalise couldn’t be faulted. Ben Hunt created the space, kicked through and when Frizell couldn’t deal with it, Jack Bird was on the spot to score.
Suddenly, the Dragons were fired up. Hunt again was the architect, throwing a long pass to Suli for Feagai to get over.
The defensive issues, however, had not gone away. Jayden Su’A went for the big shot rather than the ball, allowing David Klemmer to offload. It spread to Bradman Best, who made Lomax and Mikaele Ravalawa look very slow before finding Ponga on the inside.
Twice, the Dragons might have created points for Feagai, only for the final pass to fail, and Junior Amone was held up over the line. Francis Molo was caught on the last in the shadow of the posts and the feeling that it was a missed opportunity began to grow.
Eventually, cool heads prevailed and Lomax was able to slot the field goal with two to play.
The cool heads didn’t extend much further, with Feagai adding a madcap try to seal the deal, and were lost completely as the red and white shirts piled up behind the posts celebrating.
Cat Brown
Guest
Unfortunately as a Dragons supporter I'd have to agree with Knights coach. I felt a few dodgy calls went Dragons way but I'm glad the Dragons won. But I'm starting to think maybe the refs have an unconscious bias, not saying they do it deliberately, but maybe the 50/50 calls go the better teams way. Now Lomax, what a goat. But it was done and I'm sure he regrets it. Lets hope Hook gives him a clip around the ear, tells him not to do it again and lets move on. Lomax let your footy do the talking. It's better than your silly behaviour.
mushi
Roar Guru
I'm struggling to follow O'Brien's fact pattern here: So here he says he's taking it up with them so regularly that he's sick of it: "I’ll take that up during the week. I’m getting sick of taking it up." But them here he's saying he hasn't said anything this season? “I’ve left it alone for the first five rounds"
Choppy Zezers
Roar Rookie
Hey DP, I guess what I meant was that the Sharks have gone from that teams who makes the semi's to a genuine premiership threat (albeit after only half a dozen rounds). Last three years this is where they have finished at the end of the regular season: Sharks: 7th and then Flanagan was gone in November 2019, 8th and 9th. Before that they were comfortable semi-finalists; Titans: 16th, 9th, 8th; Knights: 11th then O'Brien started then 7th, 7th. So last two years pretty level. I just think after two seasons at the helm, the Knights still are still displaying similar issues to when AOB started. Titans similarly seem destined for a bottom half of the 8 or just out. Yeah I feel bad for Madge. What a dusty situation to be in. That's a team that's got less confidence than Dateless Dudley on Tinder.
Gary Russell-Sharam
Roar Rookie
I watched the game and thought that the penalty count for 6 again was incredibly weighted towards the Dragons. I have no bias towards either team, but I could not believe that the Dragons did not incur a single penalty for slowing down the play at the tackle. And the knock on that was missed late in the game was unforgivable. why would not the bunker alert the ref?? Both sides didn't play all that well but the Knights did not get the rub of the green
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
No I'm not suggesting that at all. I thought the Knights were much worse than the Dragons in the tackle though and that the six again difference was about right. I could go through and find another ' mass of times' the Knights got away with one. 6 more 6 mores to the Dragons seemed right to me.
Westie
Guest
Are you for real? I could go through that game & find a mass of times that St.George should have conceded a full penalty or six again penalty. So you’re seriously trying to suggest, that at no time during 80 minutes of play . Did St.George do anything wrong in defence, that should have meant a six again set against them? It’s a miracle!!! If only they were perfect every week .
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Seeing the excellent job Fitzgibbon has done for the Sharks shows what a difference a coach can make. I think the lack of improvement under O’Brien’s really needs to come into question. While you have a good point I think you also need to recognise where these teams came from. Sharks have been a top 8 club for quite a few years and won 5/6 years ago. Knights and Titans have been fringe and #8-12 club for a while. I'd say O'Brien and Holbrook are fairly decent coaches as both these clubs are consistent fringe 7-10 clubs now with Raiders. Cows under Payten should/could be on the rise. For the rest, Walters a sub standard coach but better than the one they had before. Madge a decent coach in a suck situation with an ordinary roster. Barrett, Hook, Brown all with their clubs, at the bottom.
AnonLurker
Roar Rookie
The funniest is they all coach there players to cheat and what they are complaining about is the other side cheated better than us
Muzz
Guest
All the complaining is coming from the bottom of the ladder.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
OBrian is a poor coach for sure then. He never stops blaming them.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Don't bother , some people can't accept that one team is more indisciplined than the other. A Ref who keeps giving out even penalty counts is the suspect one.
Ben Lewis
Roar Pro
It’s a poor workman who blames his tools, and a poor coach who blames the referee.
KenW
Roar Rookie
There’s no conceivable reason that penalties and 6 agains should be equal. Teams under pressure tend to give up more of them, the Dragons dominated field position for the majority of the game, it’s not unexpected the Knights gave away more infringements. In response I offered an actual mistake made by the ref that swung the game. You’re right, 2 aren’t playing at this game.
kk
Roar Pro
Once Upon a Time in Rugby League Ben Cummins (48) 14/2/74 was the best in the business. His decision making in recent seasons indicate that retirement may be about twenty rounds away. The referee appointments may now l be scanned for "who drew Ben?"
Westie
Guest
Two can’t play that game. As the Penalties will remain 4-2 to St.George & 6 agains, at 6-0 to St.George. St.George were so good that they didn’t give away 1 six again penalty in the whole game? What a load of crap!
Nat
Roar Guru
TBF, the Knights should have given their own off-side penalty with the Siafiti bros knock-on back on their own line. That would have given them 2 points before Lomax had his FG shot.
KenW
Roar Rookie
Two can play that game though. Like when the Dragons had back to back tries early in the 2nd half and got into the Knights 20m again from the kick-off and a phantom knock-on was called. The Knights got the ball for the first time in 5 mins, leading to the Best try rather than another likely Dragons one. Game might have been all over much earlier without that one.
Westie
Guest
Newcastle robbed blind by the refereeing. With 4-2 Penalties & 6-0 Restarts to St.George. Plus many other dubious decisions, all going the way of St.George. Including the obvious offside from the kick by St.George with two & a half minutes to go & a one point difference in the score line.
Glory Bound
Roar Rookie
O'Brien will have to stand in line behind Nathan Brown. If any team got screwed over this round it was the Warriors.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
No surprise the Knights are losing. 5 regular starting members out and 2 regular benchies, both Saiffitis playing tender. Can't see them winning for a while.