NRL GM of Football, Graham Annesley, has responded to criticism from Titans coach Des Hasler over a controversial no-try decision in Magic Round by declaring: “No amount of emotion is going to turn what’s not a try into a try”.
Hasler phoned Annesley immediately after Gold Coast’s 28-24 loss to the Knights to dispute the Bunker’s decision to overturn what could have been a match-winning try to centre Brian Kelly and vented his frustration at the post-match press conference.
The try had initially been awarded by referee Gerard Sutton, but Annesley backed the call by senior review official Wyatt Raymond and showed video footage of the ball being dislodged from Kelly’s grasp in a tackle by Newcastle defenders as he attempted to ground it.
'This is not an example of a Bunker howler' - Annesley
“For this to be called a ‘howler’, or somehow that the Titans were robbed of a win by this decision … this is a decision made by the Bunker based on the information that they had available,” Annesley said at his weekly media review of Round 11 matches.
“There can only be two decisions - either try or no try - and if that had been awarded a try, there would have been an equal number of people saying he lost the ball. You can see the ball drops from his arm onto the ground.
“No-one's trying to rip anyone off, no-one's trying to make sure that certain teams win. I mean this is like fantasy stuff.
“They're trying to make very tight decisions in very tight circumstances, using their judgment and the information that they have available.”
Annesley said the video footage showed Kelly desperately try to get to the tryline and the Knights defenders desperately trying to prevent him from scoring.
Hip drop explanation
“You can see at this point, he has his hand on the top of the ball, he has the ball sitting on his upper arm. He is at this stage trying to get it to the line, and there's a Knights hand that makes contact with the ball,” Annesley said.
“Now, whether you want to call it a strip or whether you want to call it contact in the course of trying to prevent a try is open to debate.
“What isn't it open to debate is that once that [Knights] hand hits the ball, you can see from the position where the ball is literally sitting on the bicep with the hand on top - in just a couple of frames - that ball drops very quickly.
“At this point, it's now on the ground after making contact with the Newcastle hand and then Brian Kelly ultimately gets his hand back on the ball, or you can see Brian Kelly's hand on the ball.”
'It's a cynical play, you won' get away with it' - Annesley
Annesley, who was CEO of the Titans for five years, said he understood the emotion at clubs over contentious decisions because coaches, players, officials and supporters so invested in the success of their teams.
However, he said the match officials only dealt with facts and had to make calls based on what they saw.
‘It doesn't matter whether it's the Titans, the Panthers or any team in our competition,” Annesley said.
“When we go down to the wire on a decision like this, the fans or anyone who supports that club will ultimately have their own views about the outcome, and nine times out of 10, perhaps more, they feel that they were on the wrong end of the decision.
“You will see countless examples throughout the course of the season where there'll be divided opinion about really tight decisions like this. It doesn't make it wrong, and it doesn't mean that the referees have somehow stuffed up.
“It's the Bunker taking the information that they have available, examining that information and reaching a decision. That's what we require the Bunker to do, and that's what the Bunker does in every decision.”