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The Warriors have further advanced their case for the top four with a 28-18 win over the Gold Coast Titans – but only after the early sending off of Moeaki Fotuaika.
Fotuaika became the second player in two consecutive games to be sent from the field, with the Titans prop dismissed by referee Ben Cummins for a high shot on Warriors star Charnze Nicholl-Klokstad.
Having seen no players sent off in 21 rounds of football dating back to Jacob Saifiti in Round 2, two have now been ejected in just 36 minutes of play, with Nathan Brown sent for a high shot on Ben Trbojevic in the latter stages of the Roosters’ win over Manly, followed by Fotuaika today.
It was a clear high shot that left the Warriors fullback poleaxed on the ground, with further Bunker review convincing Cummins to end Fotuaika’s night early. CNK left with a HIA and did not return.
“I think if you compare the one from last night I don’t think it’s the same sort of thing,” said Titans interim coach Jim Lenihan.
“I don’t think Mo is coming out of the ground or coming recklessly out of the ground, Mo is pretty much bracing for contact. Yes, there may have been a bit of contact to the head and maybe 10 minutes was sufficient.
“I don’t know it justifies at that point to probably ruin the game but it put us under a hell of a lot of pressure and pretty much the game was over at that point.”
Lenihan also denied that clubs had received prior warning from the NRL around high tackles, as had been speculated.
The animosity had been brewing prior to the high tackle, with Chris Randall lucky to avoid a bin at the least for one of his own, and afterwards, only became more frantic.
Marata Niukore was sat down for ten minutes for a slap on David Fifita – more confusing stuff, as he was also pushed in the face – and the Titans backrower then added insult to injury by opening the scoring.
Roared on a by a huge Kiwi contingent on the Gold Coast, Andrew Webster’s Warriors did make the most of their man advantage with two tries for Shaun Johnson – one from a miracle Dallin Watene-Zelezniak offload – but were pegged back by Joe Stimson and Jayden Campbell.
Titans coach Jim Lenihan leaves with the loss, but with immense pride. His side showed more backbone than they have in years, while also playing near-perfect 12-man footy, with next to no mistakes with the ball and courageous defence.
By the time Tohu Harris crashed over to put the Wahs in front with five to play, it seemed harsh. Watene-Zelenziak’s late try gave it some gloss, but Webster will still be disappointed given the performance levels and the man advantage.
“Sometimes you’ve got to win ugly and we are all understanding it definitely was ugly,” he said.
“Our boys tried hard again but we didn’t nail what we wanted to do tonight and didn’t adjust. We’ve got to get better than that.”
Consistency is a myth. Realistically, referees have a very difficult job, everyone watching has different opinions and the rules are woolly enough for fans to see whatever they want to see.
It’s rare, however, to see three incredibly similar incidents in such a short space of time garner such different results, especially when those results are so out of keeping with the previous 20 rounds of football.
On Thursday night, Nathan Brown was sent off a high shot on Ben Trbojevic, prompting a rant in the post-game press conference from Roosters coach Trent Robinson that questioned what was special about that particular shot to merit a send off given the litany of other, non-send off tackles that have happened in 2023.
He was right to point this out. Since Jacob Saifiti was dismissed in Round 2, no player was sent off.
Yet we got a second in two days with Fotuaika. That came mere moments after Cummins had failed to take any further action against Chris Randall for a high shot that was just as bad.
So was Fotuaika’s tackle worth a send off? Well, nobody knows. Was it worse than Randall’s that was penalty and on report? Was it the same as Brown’s, or worse?
What about Valentine Holmes’ shot last week that saw him binned and then banned for four games?
As Robinson pointed out, if we are changing the standard for high tackles, then that’s fine. Just enforce the standard consistently.
He noted that tackles such as Brown’s – and Fotuaika’s, and Randall’s – have been red cards in rugby union for ages.
For what it’s worth, all three would also have been red cards in Super League too, where six players have been sent off this year (and another five in the Challenge Cup).
Refs are usually unfairly targeted in rugby league, because it’s a really hard job, someone has to do it, and they’re the easiest scapegoat in the world when things go awry.
It’s not that Cummins, or Kasey Badger in the Bunker, got this one wrong. If anything, they got the first one wrong and the second one right, which is better than getting both wrong.
Sending someone off in the first 20 minutes of a game kills the contest, but they did it anyway. That’s to be commended.
The criticism, really, is about consistency. If that’s the standard now, then that’s the standard. Because you can guarantee that, for the rest of the year, fans will ask what the difference is if this level is not maintained.
On several occasions this year, the Warriors have not got the rub of the green.
They were on the wrong side of the refereeing on several occasions, notably at Magic Round where they copped the softest of sin binnings – well, perhaps until Niukore’s today – at a crucial time against Penrith.
They were twice caught cold in monsoon conditions against opponents who played the rain better than they did. Not all luck, but any game in extreme weather will introduce more luck than usual.
But tonight they can have no complaints in that regard. They got away with one here.
There was the send off, which is not inherently lucky – the other team made a mistake – but it’s fortunate that Fotuaika did it on this night rather than any other, and that the referees have decided that such tackles are now reds rather than yellows.
There was the injury to Gold Coast star AJ Brimson injury in the warm-up. The Titans were on a five day turnaround, they were off a bye.
Performance-wise, it was a night where they needed a little help, because the Kiwis were well below the levels they have created for themselves.
That might well be because of the loss of Nicoll-Klokstad, such a key player, in the Fotuaika tackle. It might be that they know that teams who play 13v 12 for an hour almost always win, and subconsciously thought they could go through the motions.
Either way, this was unlike most of their best work. Usually, the Warriors excel at playing very boring up to about 30m from their opponent’s line, then putting their plays on.
Had they done that tonight, against the worst defence in the league with a man light, they would surely have put plenty of points on. Instead, the Wahs put the cart before the horse somewhat, playing expansively when really, there wasn’t much need to.