"Crisis in the NRL": Game-altering decision in Storm win called out

Harry Grant’s controversial penalty in the final moments of the Penrith v Melbourne thriller on Thursday night has divided the rugby league world.

With scores locked at 18-18, Nathan Cleary appeared to have won the match for the Panthers with a field goal. However, referee Ashley Klein ruled that Penrith Prop Moses Leota had impeded Grant in the build up of the play. This ruling was then backed up by the NRL bunker following a captain’s challenge from the Panthers.

Whilst SEN’s Andrew Voss conceded that Leota made contact with Grant, he feels the Storm skipper made a deliberate attempt to hit Leota and exaggerated the penalty.

“For any defenders listening, just run into a player. Charge at them,” Voss said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.

“You’re going to get a penalty and the field goal disallowed. By the letter of the law, Klein and the bunker got it right.

“Harry Grant made sure that he made contact with Moses Leota.

“It’s ridiculous (and) we now have a crisis in the NRL.”

SEN’s Jimmy Smith, Tim Mannah and Matt Russell have given their reaction to the decision to award a blocking penalty against the Penrith Panthers that would deny them their 10th straight win.

It was a nail-biting finish between the two sides, with the match going to golden point, where the Melbourne Storm would score a try to win 22-18 after being down 12-4 at halftime at Commbank Stadium on Thursday night.

To pour salt on the wound, it would be Grant to score that winning try in golden point with a dummy pass that parted the Penrith defence.

Reacting to the decision as it happened, Mannah could not believe what he was seeing as he wondered how Klein came to the conclusion that Leota blocked Grant.

“Oh, come on. That’s ridiculous,” Mannah exclaimed.

“Harry wasn’t even going for the ball. I don’t agree with that at all.”

Fellow commentator Jimmy Smith was in agreement, believing that Grant went out of his way to make contact with the Panthers’ prop.

“I don’t know where Moses is meant to go,” Smith added.

“Harry ran into him, we’ve got the front on shot, Harry ran into him.

“He had to change his direction to run into Moses Leota. He’s hit him; it’s a dramatic fall from Harry Grant.

“Why wouldn’t we have a strong dollop of controversy into this game?”

And speaking with SEN League after the match, the Melbourne Storm captain felt that the decision was a fair one by the referees, noting that Panthers players had called out to Leota to move out of the way.

“I think they (Penrith) would understand,” Grant explained.

“I know the players at the time were saying, ‘Moses, get out of the road’. So, I think they are aware.

“Everyone in the game is aware. We’ve seen it numerous times throughout the year; that’s what’s been policed throughout the season.

“If they want to change them, come out and change them throughout the week and be nice and clear on it, and we won’t have that confusion.

“The refs policed what they have been policing, and hats off to them.”

However, Cleary was completely frustrated by the decision, adamant that Leota was not in a blocking position.

“If you’re defending a three-man and you play for the obstruction, then they don’t want that in the game, but for some reason, it’s different for a field goal,” he said in the press conference.

“I thought the blocking rule was brought in, so then people wouldn’t stand next to the play-the-ball. Moses wasn’t in that position.

“I don’t believe that everyone can get behind me on that field goal. And then essentially Harry played for it because he knew he was going to get the penalty.

“But I don’t think Moses moved at all either, so it was a pretty frustrating.”

While on SEN 1170 Breakfast, Matt Russell was short and concise in his feelings about the incident.

“The rule is if you are in between the ruck and the kicker and cause any deviation to the defender… case closed.”