A hip-drop tackle that wasn’t, an Origin star in strife for two incidents and a game-changing captain’s challenge that looked way too late – there was drama wherever you looked at Accor Stadium on Sunday.
Canterbury have jumped off the bottom of the NRL ladder following a highly controversial 20-18 victory over the Gold Coast in a drama-filled 80 minutes where referee Chris Butler was at the centre of several contentious calls that helped define the game.
The Bulldogs were allowed to make a captain’s challenge when they were penalised for a pass off the ground, after watching the replay on the big screen. The decision came 14 seconds after the referee blew the whistle, even though the rule is a captain only has 10 seconds to make a challenge.
Titans skipper Tino Fa’asuamaleaui was fuming over the decision as he argued with Butler. Not long after winning the challenge, the Dogs scored a try which turned the game.
Fa’asuamaleaui has judiciary worries with Origin selection on Monday – he appeared to strike Dogs hooker Reed Mahoney with a forearm as he made a hit-up in the first half and was reported for a lifting tackle on Tevita Pangai Jnr in the second stanza.
“It’s a contact sport,” the Titans skipper said after the game. “I’m running as hard as I can, Reed is running off the line as hard as he can, and he’s half my size.”
Fa’asuamaleaui felt the same about the tackle on TPJ.
“There was no malice in it, I was just trying to do an old-school tackle and get underneath him and it just came off wrong.”
There was a flurry of questionable calls, including a hip-drop tackle by Mahoney that many thought was perfectly fine placed on report while the forearm to the head he copped resulted in no penalty.
The Bulldogs were woeful in the first 40 minutes, with just 36 per cent possession and having to make a mountain of tackles. But the momentum shift in the second half favoured the home side, with the stats and scoreboard looking much more even.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to open the scoring, with David Fifita steamrolling his way over three defenders to score in just the third minute. The Titans thought they were in again a short time later, but the bunker spotted a knock-on during grounding. Backrower Joe Stimson got the green light in the 31st minute after a beautiful offload from Fa’asuamaleaui close to the line, giving his side a 14-0 lead heading into the sheds at the break.
But as we have seen so often with the Titans, the wheels began to fall off in the second half and they allowed the opposition back in. A brilliant try by Jake Averillo off a Matt Burton bomb followed by a four-pointer to a flying Josh Addo-Carr up the sideline just minutes later closed the gap to just two points.
Titans winger Phillip Sami gave his side a bit of breathing space, scoring a try in the 59th minute, but it was once again short-lived, with Jacob Kiraz crossing just a minute later following the Bulldogs’ challenge after watching the big screen, and the home side trailed by four.
The Titans continued to leave the door open for the Bulldogs, with silly errors and dangerous tackles helping the Dogs upfield to apply pressure. Throwing everything they could at the visitors, the Bulldogs finally broke through in the 77th minute, when Jayden Okunbor crossed for the winning try.
In the end, it was a gutsy effort from the Bulldogs who turned a 14-0 half-time deficit into a victory, and another example of the Titans being a 40-minute side, letting a half-time lead slip through their fingers.
“Really disappointed, I feel awful,” said Titans coach Justin Holbrook.
“Again, we find a way to not win. You don’t lead 14-0 and not know what you are doing, and then we are just finding ways to come unstuck.”
There was a controversial moment in the first half when Bulldogs hooker Mahoney was taken off for an HIA after copping a forearm to the head in an attempted tackle on Fa’asuamaleaui. As Mahoney walked off the field, there was no sanction for the Titans captain or even a penalty awarded to the Bulldogs.
“It was a forearm to the head! He knocked him out!” said Fox League analyst Greg Alexander. “Are you allowed to do that, as a runner, as a ball carrier?”
Fellow panellist Corey Parker was quick to defend Fa’asuamaleaui. “You should be allowed to initiate contact, every front-rower in the game initiates contact at some point,” said Parker. “It’s not up to Tino to determine where Reed Mahoney positions his head.”
Alexander disagreed with his colleague. “Every front-rower might lift their arm up, but they don’t knock the defender out,” said Alexander.
Mahoney defended Fa’asuamaleaui after the match.
“It probably looked worse than what it was,” said Mahoney. “Big Tino was just trying to get his team forward……I don’t think there was anything in it.
“There was no intent……it was probably more my fault. He should get off, he should be right.”
It will be an anxious wait for Fa’asuamaleaui and the Queensland selectors as to how the match review committee deem the action, with the forward expected to be named in the Maroons State of Origin team on Monday morning.
What’s a round of NRL these days without a contentious hip-drop call?
Mahoney was once again involved, shortly before his run-in with Fa’asuamaleaui he was placed on report for an alleged hip drop tackle on Titans forward Moe Fotuaika that left many scratching their heads.
“It’s not a hip drop,” said Alexander. “His feet never left the ground…..it was a hit and spin from Fotuaika, then he trailed him around and ended up behind him.”
“He (Mahoney) never took his feet off the ground and landed on the back of his legs. I can’t call that a hip drop.”
This time Parker was in complete agreement.
“I agree with Brandy,” said Parker. “He was just doing his best in the tackle.”
Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo felt exactly the same.
“That’s not a hip drop tackle,” said Ciraldo in the post-match press conference. “That was a smaller guy trying to tackle a bigger guy on his back.
“That was disappointing.”
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