Round XXI *SPOILERS*

[Blitzkrieg]

From the last 3 minutes I saw, looks like Hayne in trouble again. How can you allow the Rooters to be 2 metres in front of you, 20 metres from your line? They were easily able to put off the kickers because they were able to put the extra pressure on... The penalties you pay at minute 1 should be the same you pay at minute 89.

This is true. They were talking about that on 2GB, saying that the referees tend to put the whistle away if a match goes into golden point extra time. It'd certainly be nice to see extra time refereed with the same strictness as the the normal eighty minutes...

[Surandy]

31-all is probably a fair result at the SFS - what a match! Both sides will struggle next week after slugging it out for 90 minutes. Epalahame Lauaki & Steve Price were excellent for the Warriors, Craig Wing was looking dangerous for the Roosters. McKinnon did well to shrug of that ankle problem & play on...Mannering's sin binning was a very poor call IMO. Hayne tends to call held very quickly, but I don't think the Rooters player was held properly, so Mannering was entitled to effect a 1-on-1 strip...

I thought Mannering initially was only penalised, you then hear him say to Hayne "what for?" and then Hayne signals 10 in the bin.

[MENACING*STORM]

Just came back from the magnificent Warriors v Roosters game.  From a neutral point of view, it was one of the best game for 2007.
I would have never predicted the 31-all scoreline at the end of the day. 

[Blitzkrieg]

31-all is probably a fair result at the SFS - what a match! Both sides will struggle next week after slugging it out for 90 minutes. Epalahame Lauaki & Steve Price were excellent for the Warriors, Craig Wing was looking dangerous for the Roosters. McKinnon did well to shrug of that ankle problem & play on...Mannering's sin binning was a very poor call IMO. Hayne tends to call held very quickly, but I don't think the Rooters player was held properly, so Mannering was entitled to effect a 1-on-1 strip...

I thought Mannering initially was only penalised, you then hear him say to Hayne "what for?" and then Hayne signals 10 in the bin.

IIRC David Kidwell was binned last year or the year before (I'm not sure which) in similar circumstances, with Clark reffing - I didn't hear what Mannering said, but if that's what he was sin-binned for, then Hayne certainly overreacted IMO, just as Clark did with Kidwell...

It's very sad when you can't even ask the referee what you've been penalised for...and the Warriors were caned 8 to 2 in the penalty count...

[Blitzkrieg]

HOLY SHEET!! FINCH ADMITS TOUCH JUDGE STUFFED UP!!! 

Touch judge missed ball strip

August 06, 2007

NRL REFEREES' coach Robert Finch admits a touch judge "got his arse kicked" for missing a stripping penalty that could have given New Zealand a shot for victory.

The Warriors and Sydney Roosters settled for a 31-all draw at Sydney Football Stadium yesterday, but Warriors captain Steve Price was furious referee Shayne Hayne failed to award a penalty when Nate Myles knocked the ball out of his arms in a tackle in the fourth minute of golden point time.

Finch agreed the Warriors should have received a penalty, giving Michael Witt a kick to win the game from about 40m, but said it was sideline official Michael Jones to blame and not Hayne.

"The touch judge got his arse kicked for that, he should have picked that up," said Finch.

"Not so much the referee because he was not in a good enough position to see that.

"It was on the other side of the referee, it was a touch judge issue and not the referee."

Finch also sided with Hayne and his touch judges on two other contentious decisions during the contest.

Warriors coach Ivan Cleary was fuming Simon Mannering was sin-binned in the 68th minute for stripping the ball from Roosters fullback Sam Perrett at the end of a 60m break.

Cleary said the decision "changed the nature of the game", but Finch said it was the correct call.

"The player was tackled and quite clearly called held and he (Mannering) goes back in twice to strip the football," said Finch.

"There was only four or five players back to defend the next play. All of our referees in here would have done the same."

Finch backed his touch judges' decision not to rule forward pass for Epalahame Lauaki's second try which broke an 18-all deadlock.

Television replays suggested the pass to be suspect forward, but Finch said his men were on the spot to make the best call.

"I've got people (touch judge) in line with the pass, they're in a better position than someone sitting on halfway looking at something on a 45 degree angle," he said.

"I'm very comfortable with the pass. I had a touch judge directly in line with the pass who is in the best position of anyone."

*shrugs shoulders* Ah well. at least Finch admitted to one stuff up, which is better than nothing...

[nacho]

what, were we all expecting a touchy to do something for once?