St George Illawarra Dragons vs Manly Sea Eagles: NRL live scores, blog

Manly should have won the game but simply weren't good enough. Why cry about 1 play at the end of the game, why not instead ask why they cannot win a game when they had so many opportunities to do so

Thanks for clarifying that WarHorse. A few years back Josh Reynolds got away with two intentional trips in one game and some of the ex-players were saying he was lucky he wasn't sent off. I guess that stuck with me. At the very least it should have been a sin-bin and there was still a decent chance Aitken would have scored. I do think that Manly should have received a penalty though for a blatant escort by Tim Lafai. The thing is, that escort was totally unnecessary, Garrick was never going to get to the ball in any case.

The only penalty you get for tripping these days is a fine. The days of automatic send offs are no longer, under this current administration. They just ignore the rule book when it suits. Have a look at the way they officiate on voluntary tackles. The rule book says a voluntary tackle is a penalty but I have never seen anyone penalised for that these days either.

I want to know why frizell was not put on report or charged for the careless hit on brendan elliots head with his shoulder that led him to go to the head bin. No consistency again by this mob after giving fonua blake 2 weeks. Jokers.

Yeah that try he scored was a waste wasn’t it

Yeah he is isn’t he, Manly should sell him

Absolutely you are correct. just that the complaints would have gone ballistic if they lost right on the back of his extension.

Aitken is a dead set cheat throwing himself on the ground when he knew he couldn’t get there. its a bad look for our game. Very bad. Eagles won, but dragons fan will take it. Good to see manly back, shows how truely pathetic the Barrett was.

Proud of that effort. Didn’t give them much of a shot at WIN given their near 20 year poor history there. And given some of the average players who are filling spots. But they are playing with heart, as a team. They lack class in areas, but geez Hasler has made a difference. Throw Turbo, Walker & AFB back in the team and suddenly they are making other sides nervous.

Did Mary seriously just have a crack at ref's decisions going against them?

All camera angles show contact and intentionality IMO. Parker has a quick peek, sees Aitken about to pass him, sticks the foot out and connects enough to cause him to trip. Manly were VERY, VERY lucky not to be short a player for the closing mins of that game. Although Taufua was closing in there was every chance that Aitken could have collected the ball before the collision and gone over with momentum (Aitken is incredibly and deceptively strong). They should have considered a penalty try and if there was to much doubt then fallen back on a sin-bin. That said, every day of the week what Lafai did is penalised as an escort. It was totally unnecessary IMO as Garrick had too much ground to make up and would not have got to the ball or affected a change to the result.

Manly forwards were better early on and Saints finished better but both packs were strong. The ending was a good example of why we need a captains call. The ref shouldn't be able to decide to not go to the bunker if there was any chance that a penalty to Manly was possible. How can he justify it? Manly need to make fewer silly mistakes to compliment the great effort. I feel a bit sorry for Brendon Elliot but surely we can come up with a better player in such a crucial position.

Absaloutley, Brad Parker should have been in the bin for ten!

Turbo is going to find it very difficult to displace Elliot from the fullback spot.

You aren't returning my messages. Is your phone broken?

It's not a conspiracy. It's just standard refereeing. People lament that ref bashing is a sport in league... But it's standard to have your team lose (or, for that matter, win) a close one on some ridiculous decision or non-decision. It's "exciting", but it genuinely feels like the game has evolved past the point for humans to officiate it. It's just too big and too fast. And the NRL may come out and say mistakes were made. They may even drop the refs. But the result stands.

You're probably not going to take me seriously because of who I barrack for, but was there obvious contact in the trip? There was definitely a tripping motion from Parker, but I'm not entirely sure he actually made contact with Aitken. Happy to be proven wrong if there's a different camera angle though.

A decision needs to be made then because plenty of games will go down to the line and gift 2 pointers MUST be made. Reynolds missing 3 conversions and a field goal cost Souths their ONLY loss of the season to a very lucky Sea Eagles side. Have I mentioned that before? ;-)

Good call David. I'm just sorry you had to see that disgraceful display of officialdom near the end.

Bahahahahahahaha My vote for comment of the night. Commiserations champ but Manly are looking like they are building and when they get Turbo and AFB back they will go up two gears. JUst keep Elliott "the albatross" away from FB, OK? ;-)