The NRL’s black and white refereeing of the obstruction rule has caused controversy for the second week in a row following a no try to Sydney Roosters centre Joey Manu last night.
In the 23rd minute of last night’s Roosters v Panthers clash, Manu scored a crucial try in the corner, demonstrating his impressive strength to power to the line with three defenders on him. However, the on-field ruling of try was overturned by the Bunker, citing an obstruction on Dylan Edwards in the back play by Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
The decision has induced outrage in fans, mainly over the distance that Edwards would have had to travel to make it to Manu and the fact that Waerea-Hargreaves ran through the defensive line. The Roosters would end up losing 16-22.
Former Broncos and Dragons’ hooker Andrew McCullough was shocked at the decision.
“I was stunned, I couldn’t believe it,” McCullough told SENQ.
“We’re looking at anything to try and pull tries away, like seriously, Dylan’s 20 odd metres away and Jared’s gone through the line, he hasn’t even looked at where Dylan Edwards is and Dylan’s just run straight into him.
“I don’t know what they want the player to do there. Are they going to have to pull out of decoy runs now because it’s going to get too confusing?”
The disapproval from fans and pundits follows a similar call last week in Sunday’s Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles versus Parramatta Eels match. Down 28-18, the Sea Eagles scored a long-range try that was overturned due to obstruction, despite questions surrounding the ability of the obstructed player to impact the play.
McCullough said he could see the difference between the two decisions, but called for discretion to be used by referees, as opposed to black-and-white rulings.
“I could understand a little bit the week before in terms of Jake Trbojevic. He didn’t get through, that’s just the rules with getting through the defensive line but I thought Jared did that.
“I’d like some common sense within the game of rugby league.”