NRL head of football elite competitions Graham Annesley has responded to criticism over an eight-tackle howler in the Knights win over Souths, stating “there are no excuses”.
With the score at 12-4, Knights forward Daniel Saifiti managed to pounce on a grubber which gave them momentum to run away with victory. Post-game it was revealed on Channel Nine’s coverage that the try was scored off an eight-tackle set.
Speaking at his weekly briefing, Annesley admitted it was the wrong call.
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“There are no excuses for it, it’s an error, it’s wrong, it’s a simple refereeing error, and he’s miscounted the tackles,” he said.
“There are two tackles that happen literally on top of each other and back-to-back.
“It was a seven-tackle set, and the try was scored on the eighth tackle.
“Of course it is little consolation [to Souths] other than the fact the game is being accountable.
“The bunker doesn’t intervene with general play. There is a referees’ official in the stands who has audio contact, and one of their jobs is to help ensure the referee has the tackle count right.
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“Even those measures don’t stop mistakes.
“In that particular incident, you have a seven-tackle set, a long break, they got the first few right, then we had that messy area near the try line.
“There were two quick play-the-balls in the exact same spot, and that’s clearly thrown their count.
“There are no excuses for it. It is a straight miss by the referee.”
Knights victory marred by controversy
Despite the uproar over the decision, NRL icon Phil Gould believes it’s not a big issue.
”It’s unfortunate (but) it’s a storm in a teacup,” he said on Nine’s 100% Footy.
“It did not decide the result and in this day of zero tackles and six agains and seven tackle sets, every now and then it’s going to happen, one’s going to slip through. It’s probably happened a few times this year but not been noticed because no one scored or they kicked on tackle four instead of tackle five.
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“It can happen. Players get confused, we see players get caught on the last tackle because they’re unsure of the tackle count and don’t know where they are with it. We see players kick on tackle three or four, we think why did they do that? Because they think it’s tackle four or five.
The Bulldogs supremo went on to state the incident had no bearing on the result.
“That did not beat South Sydney, nor was it the reason South Sydney conceded the try because in this era of six tackle sets and six agains, sometimes you’ve got to tackle for 14 or 15 tackles in a row and still not concede the points,” he explained.
“They should have defended that, they didn’t defend that.”
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Hasibur Rahaman is a passionate sports journalist. He covers everything from cricket to field hockey, delivering up-to-the-minute updates and in-depth analysis of sporting events, both within India and on the international stage.
