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South Sydney coach Jason Demetriou has called on the NRL to come down hard on head slams after his team made it into the second finals round by upsetting the Roosters in a spiteful 80 minutes of chaos and carnage with referee Ashley Klein sin-binning players an unprecedented seven times.
Roosters skipper James Tedesco and second-rower Angus Crichton were ruled out for the rest of the game after copping high shots in the first half but the fact that Tom Burgess was not banished for his tackle on Tedesco infuriated the home side.
Souths managed to conjure up a 12-8 half-time lead despite being down to 11 men when they scored their second try and after stretching out to a 16-point lead, withstood a late Roosters rally to win 30-14.
Demetriou was unhappy with one incident in particular when Roosters veteran Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was sin-binned for slamming opposing prop Tom Burgess’ head into the turf.
The Bunnies take on Cronulla in the Semi-Final stage next Saturday for the right to try to take down premiers Penrith in the Preliminary Final.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
“We’re talking about concussions as a serious part of our game and we’re talking about referees and the game as whole doing things to make sure we’re protecting the players but if a player wants to hold somebody who’s defenceless and slam their head into the ground, where’s the responsibility coming back on the player?
“I just think it’s an ordinary act and I think the game has to come down on it. They know what they’re doing. You know what you’re doing when you’re slamming a bloke’s head in the ground and I just think as a player, you’ve got to have some respect for the opposition. If you don’t, who are you?
“It’s not just the Roosters, it’s across the board, it’s happening. Tom’s a big man but everybody saw how bad he got out of that tackle and I’m not just saying it just for Tom but for all players, to take a look at how we look after each other is important.”
On the prospect of a Rabbitoh or two being suspended, Demetriou had a cheeky dig at head office over the strange recent decision to allow Panthers rookie Taylan May to serve a two-game ban for an off-field incident at the start of next season.
“We’ve got the benefit of using the suspensions next year – that’s a new policy that we use, isn’t it? Can we do that? The fans want to see them play. I’ll have a word to Peter (V’landys), we’ll get a petition going, the fans will show their interest and we’ll serve it next season.”
Both coaches laid the blame for the foul play at the feet of the players with Trent Robinson making a point of praising the officials for keeping the match under control as best they could. He did not want to comment on the biggest flashpoint of the match – Tedesco being sidelined for most of the game by a Burgess tackle which did not result in a sin bin.
“That’s a critical moment but our team has to adapt to that. If we’re going to rely on one guy we’re not going to be the team we want to be,” he said.
“I thought they (the match officials) handled the game really well, I thought we descended the game as in both teams. I feel like we forced their hand and they played what was in front of them.
It was chaotic, it descended into a a non-rugby league game in the end. It got to the point where it was so stop start, not what we really want to see in our game and then there was footy periods and who was going to execute their opportunities and they did that better than us.
“I think as a spectacle it would’ve been interesting and different, and then the footy moments were won by Souths.”
In front of a sold-out crowd at Allianz Stadium, the game kicked off in bizarre fashion with Latrell Mitchell kicking downfield on the first tackle and Victor Radley sin-binned for a phantom punch.
Mitchell turned back the clock three decades when he fielded a kick in his own territory and then booted it downfield to hand possession straight back to the Roosters. Demetriou revealed after the game it was a deliberate tactic they came up with to throw their opponents off their game.
He nearly paid for it on the scoreboard on the next set when centre Drew Hutchison was disallowed a try after the last pass was ruled forward.
A minute later, several players from each side were involved in a scuffle and the bunker uncovered a sneaky little punch from Radley on Taane Milne, which looked like nothing more than a slight shove on replay.
Klein was about to let play continue after the scuffle but was tipped off by the bunker: “It has been identified that a punch has been thrown.”
Immortal halfback Andrew Johns let out a “no, no, no” to voice his displeasure when Klein marched the fiery lock.
Victor Radley is sent to the sin bin. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Alex Johnston opened the scoring in the fifth minute when he touched down out wide but the Roosters responded inside 10 minutes when, despite being a man down, Hutchison spun out of a couple of tackles to put a try on a platter for Crichton to cut the deficit it 6-4.
Crichton produced an offload a few minutes later and Sam Walker spiralled a pass to Daniel Tupou to score in the corner and put the Tricolours up 8-6.
Tom Burgess was sin-binned for a high tackle on Matt Lodge soon after a similar hit on Tedesco in the 18th minute and when Milne suffered the same fate for a hit on opposing winger Joseph Suaalii at the mid-point of a crazy first half, the Roosters were playing against 11 Rabbitohs.
Tedesco was ruled out of a return late in the first half after failing his HIA.
And true to fashion in this bizarre playoff, Souths scored despite being two players down with Mitchell crashing over off a Cody Walker pass, combined with poor Sam Walker defence, and converting to make it 12-8 to the Bunnies.
The South Sydney First XI thought they had struck again when Campbell Graham touched down out wide but a Keaon Koloamatangi fumble in the lead-up saved the Roosters’ skin.
Crichton was ruled out for the rest of the game at half-time after he was taken off to be assessed following a shoulder to the head while trying to tackle a fired-up Burgess in the 33rd minute.
Tupou also did not return after the break after he aggravated the groin injury which kept him out of the Round 25 rumble with the Rabbits.
“I didn’t expect that to happen otherwise I wouldn’t have played him. That was an error on our part,” conceded Robinson.
The Roosters’ fortunes suffered yet another blow two minutes into the second half when veteran prop Siosiua Taukeiaho came off second best after a head clash with Hame Sele. He got up and played the ball the wrong way before being sent for an HIA.
If he had been ruled out, 18th man Adam Keighran could have be activated but the Tongan forward was allowed to return.
Johnston’s 30th try of the season in the 47th minute on the back of a characteristic left-side raid, complete with a Cody Walker cut-out pass, put Souths up 18-8.
Johnston drew level with Cronulla Hall of Famer Andrew Ettingshausen on 166 for in fifth place on the all-time try-scorers list.
Down to a squad of 13, the Roosters were reduced to 12 on the field after Jared Waerea-Hargreaves was banished to the bin for a head slam on Burgess in the 50th minute.
(Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Walker threaded a kick through for Jai Arrow to make it 24-8 amid the mayhem and give South Sydney one foot into week two of the finals.
Just when it looked like the Roosters were falling apart, Luke Keary dribbled in a bouncing kick for Nat Butcher to cut the margin back to 10.
Burgess was ruled out after failing his HIA, meaning Souths could replace him with their standby reserve, Michael Chee Kam, to rub insult into the Roosters’ injuries.
Radley and Souths prop Tevita Tatola were the next to spend time in the bin for a scuffle on the hour-mark with the Roosters lock losing his cool yet again to escalate the incident into a melee.
Milne was then given his second stint in the bin after a coathanger on Connor Watson which could have been deemed a straight send-off.
Despite again being a player down, the Rabbitohs sealed their triumph with rookie centre Isaiah Tass dummying his way past the stretched cover defence.