NRL head of football Graham Annesley has confirmed the Bunker made a mistake on Saturday night to deny the Panthers a try, with no decision made yet if the incorrect call will cost Chris Butler a spot in the officiating crew for the grand final.
Panthers coach Ivan Cleary unleashed on the officials after his side’s 26-6 win over Cronulla following the Bunker’s decision to take a try away from Sunia Turuva over what they thought was an obstruction by Luke Garner.
The back-rower ran at Siosifa Talakai’s inside shoulder and the defender initiated the contact and wouldn’t have been able to stop Turuva, who scored in the corner.
“There was an obstruction try that was a terrible decision, and that gives me a lot of anxiety around next week if that Bunker official (is there again) – I think it was Chris Butler,” a frustrated Cleary said after the game.
“That was wrong, and it’s been happening all year.
“They shouldn’t have even scored because we shouldn’t have even been down there. That was the one time we sorted our stuff out and ran the play perfectly and ran to his inside shoulder. Sifa actually initiated contact.
“That worries me about next week if that same Bunker official (is there) or if he or someone else is going off the same script, then I’m concerned.”
Annesley hasn’t spoken to Cleary since the game but he agrees that the call was wrong.
“Having reviewed it this morning, although there’s contact here, there is very little chance that if that contact hadn’t taken place that Talakai would have been able to prevent this try from being scored,” he said.
“In my view, the Bunker has misjudged this and I think this try should have been upheld.
“Talakai was not going to tackle anyone except Garner.”
Annesley listed six indicators that the Bunker looks at for obstructions, pointing out that they do have the power to use discretion with certain things.
“We won’t always agree with the exercise of that judgment, and I don’t agree with the exercise of the judgment in this case,” he said.
“It’s multiple factors that I think should have resulted in the try being confirmed.”
The mistake could cost Butler his job for the grand final, but Annesley says no final decision has been made.
Ashley Klein was the senior review official in last year’s decider while Grant Atkins was in the Bunker for two State of Origin matches this year, with one of them likely to referee the grand final while the other could be in the Bunker.
“I wouldn’t assume anything because one of the things that we do is that we’ve got a very detailed process that we go through when it goes to the appointment of referees,” Annesley said.
“That goes through various levels of the organisation from the referees’ coaching staff through me as the head of football, through Andrew Abdo as the CEO of the game.
“There’s a lot of focus on data and decision making, but it’s not just about decision making. It’s about the flow of the game, compliance of the rules and a whole range of factors that are taken into consideration.”
Annesley said Bunker officials had largely made the right calls on obstruction this year and the easiest thing for attacking teams to do is to ensure decoy runners don’t make contact with defenders.
“I’m anxious whenever there is contact between lead runners and defenders,” he said after hearing criticism from Cleary and Wayne Bennett in recent weeks.
“I’d prefer that every team is able to execute (plays) like we saw in the earlier examples because then the referees don’t even get involved and the Bunker doesn’t get involved.
“That’s in the perfect world, and our game’s not perfect. There will be contact, and when there is, someone will sit in judgment of that contact.
“We’d like to think that even when there is contact, the factors involved in that contact will be so clear cut that no one will disagree with the nature of that contact.
“But that’s not always the case and you’ll always get these 50-50 decisions where it could have gone either way.”
