It’s been revealed that he Sea Eagles’ supreme 32-18 win over the Panthers at Brookvale Oval has been overshadowed by controversy after a contentious try was granted. This contention is been reviewed by officials.
Toluta’u Koula sprinting away to score in the 34th minute after his Manly teammate Tommy Talau appeared to have knocked the ball on while trying to intercept a Dylan Edwards pass has been under contentions
Talauhad immediately showed an expression of guilt as Koula scooped up the ball up and charged 90 metres downfield unchallenged to score.
Despite the error in the lead-up to the try, referee Todd Smith awarded it and the Bunker confirmed it with league great Corey Parker believing the knock-on was ignored.
“There’s a lesson [here], play to the whistle,” fellow commentator Dan Ginnane added.
“High drama at Brookvale… of course it’s a knock on, a contentious knockdown pass.”
Parker later added: “That’s outrageous”. “We see it every day, the minute that ball goes down they say knock on, this time it goes upstairs, Todd Smith gives it a try… and they come up with a try.”
Speaking post-match, Panthers coach Ivan Cleary acknowledged that Talau’s knock-on was clearly missed but refused to use the instance as an excuse for his side’s “poor” showing.
“It was one of about five or six intercepts we threw, so it was bad play by us in the first place,” he told media.
“I mean, yeah, everybody in the stadium knew it was a knock-on but that’s poor play by us in the first place.”
Panthers skipper Isaah Yeo added: “I guess the feeling was that we thought it was a knock-on, but like Ivan touched on, even just that reaction off the back of that too”.
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