If Nathan Cleary really wants to take the moral high ground and be an advocate to stop players diving to milk penalties, perhaps Penrith should lead by example.
Because it was a bit rich hearing the Panthers captain complain about Harry Grant’s Academy Award nomination after the Storm’s stunning golden point win.
We all know the Panthers aren’t exactly squeaky clean when it comes to exploiting any loophole.
We’ve seen it with their trainers in recent weeks who seem to have zero care factor when it comes to blatantly breaking the rules.
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Cleary TEES OFF on controversial penalty | 05:32
Cleary was also on the receiving end of a couple of dodgy calls last round when the Knights were penalised for minor kick pressure.
It was also revealed by the Daily Telegraph over the weekend that Nathan was ‘guilty’ of playing for a similar penalty to what Grant did here when the Panthers played the Storm in round one last year.
On that occasion it related to a general play kick, not a field goal.
But it was almost identical in the sense that Cleary chased through to put pressure on Jahrome Hughes but ran into interference from Josh King.
While the NRL has since adjusted the interpretation to try and stop diving to get the penalty for general play kicks, the rule still allows a bit of sportsmanship for field goal attempts.
In fairness to Cleary, he was more having a crack at the rules rather than singling out Grant when he made his comments following this game.
But as was the case with Cleary last year, Grant was only doing his job — exploiting the rules that exist.
Grant was well within his rights to milk this one for all it was worth because Moses Leota did position himself illegally to try and block Grant from getting to Cleary before the field goal shot.
There is also no question Leota moved, however marginally, to make sure Grant was impeded.
What did the Panthers expect Grant to do, cop their illegal tactics to the detriment of his own team?
The hypocrisy is just astounding.
MATCH OFFICIALS AREN’T MEDICAL EXPERTS
It was just one of several diving incidents over the weekend that had fans blowing up.
Reece Walsh also stayed down at a vital stage in the Broncos’ comeback win over the Dolphins.
The replays clearly showed Walsh had copped a minor crusher tackle.
But when you see a player get up smiling after winning the penalty, your concern for his safety kind of deflates pretty fast.
The issue for match officials is that they are not medical experts, so they can’t be called on to categorically say if a player has been injured or not.
You might remember back in 2018 when Sam Burgess clocked Josh Morris with a forearm to the throat and Burgess accused Morris of “trying to get a career on Hollywood”.
It turned out Morris was in such pain that he required emergency treatment from a doctor and nurse after the game, including an injection to stop swelling in his throat so he could breathe.
IT’S UP TO PLAYERS TO STOP NRL’S LATEST PANDEMIC, NOT REFEREES
There is no question diving has become the game’s latest pandemic.
But how do we stop it going forward, as a game?
Maybe it’s time to start penalising players if they stay down and the bunker can find no evidence of illegal contact.
Gorden Tallis also argued on Triple M on Sunday after another incident in Wests Tigers’ over Manly that they should simply take the ball off the so-called injured player and restart play nearby (like they used to).
The trouble with that is what if the player is genuinely injured like Morris was when he struggled to breathe.
And would you rather see the bunker chime in and make the correct call if your team was illegally disadvantaged, or would we all be happy to let it go?
Let’s be fair dinkum here.
You can imagine the controversy if a penalty wasn’t awarded and high contact or dirty tactics were spotted on the replay?
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Panel praise ref over Grant pen decision | 00:36
As a game we can’t have it both ways.
We used to laugh a soccer for players taking dives and ridicule what a blight it was on their game.
Now the boot is well and truly on the other foot.
The only way to stop it would be if senior players like Cleary and Grant (and the leaders at every club) got together at the end of the season and came up with a gentleman’s agreement that they would make sure none of their players ever stayed down unless they were genuinely injured.
But good luck ever getting that to hold up when the pressure is on and two competition points are up for grabs.
HARRY HOUDINI DOES IT AGAIN
It’s a shame the controversy stole the spotlight away from a cracker of a game decided by Grant’s stunning match-clinching try.
That was as smart a play as you will ever see on the rugby league field.
Grant held onto the ball just long enough to fool the markers into thinking he was throwing it to Cam Munster for the field goal shot, when Grant took off through a gaping hole and pulled the Panthers’ pants down.
Xavier Coates’ aerial acrobatics were almost as impressive.
WALSH FIRES BACK AT CRITICS
Now that’s the Reece Walsh we want to see in the countdown to the finals.
I’ve been critical of Walsh of late for being too cocky and too inconsistent in recent weeks.
But how Walsh orchestrated the thrilling comeback when the Broncos had their backs against the wall against the Dolphins just showed what a superstar this bloke is when he can cut out the mistakes.
That cracking 40/20 kick turned the game on its head, while he finished with 15 runs for 170m that included a try, a try assist, 10 tackle busts and three linebreak assists.
He also put one over the sideline from the kick off but I promised myself I wouldn’t mention that.
GRAY DESERVES TO BE NO.1 AHEAD OF LATRELL
Move over Latrell Mitchell.
If Billy Slater came up with as performance as good as Jye Gray’s in Souths’ brave win over Parramatta you’d be telling the grand kids about it in decades to come to help explain why Slater was so special.
And Gray’s three try-saving efforts in the space of about half a minute also showed exactly why Wayne Bennett has no option but to keep the pocket rocket at fullback when Mitchell returns from injury to play the Dragons this Thursday night.
Tallis Duncan also had a tremendous game.
Brilliant Bunnies defence defeats Eels | 02:21
That effort when Duncan dived on the loose ball to snatch it out of the hands of Isaiah Iongi was exactly what Jason Ryles was referring to when Ryles spoke about how the Eels were beaten by a team who simply wanted it more.
The other unsung hero for the Rabbitohs was Jai Arrow who was huge through the middle with 22 carries for 179m, along with 28 tackles.
HAMMER NOT A HAPPY CENTRE?
The Dolphins could have an issue on their hands when it comes to where to play Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow after what we saw from Trai Fuller in his NRL return.
It’s no secret Tabuai-Fidow signed with the Dolphins because he wanted to play fullback but was ranked behind Scott Drinkwater at the Cowboys.
Yet as we saw in Fuller’s first game back from an ACL knee injury, this bloke deserves to be in the Dolphins top squad going forward.
The concern for Kristian Woolf is that ‘Hammer’ didn’t look happy.
Hammer was either off his game or not impressed about playing in the centres judging by some of his defensive efforts on Kotoni Staggs that were just embarrassing.
WALKER THE ROOSTERS’ SUPERMAN
Ricky Stuart spoke recently about why Raiders young gun Ethan Strange deserves a spot on Kevvie Walters’ Kangaroo tour.
What about Sam Walker?
Since his return from an ACL knee injury, Walker has been unbelievable for the Roosters, just confirming exactly why he has long been rated the game’s next superstar halfback.
The problem for Kevvie is if everyone is fit, Australia has a stacked line up of playmakers to choose from with the likes of Nathan Cleary, Mitchell Moses, Cam Munster and Tom Dearden, along with Strange and Matt Burton.
While Strange and Burton can play multiple positions, Walker is an out-and-out seven.
But don’t tell me he doesn’t have rep footy written all over him.
Robbo talks Roosters new pack leader | 06:25
WILL ROOSTERS MOVE TARNISH DCE’S LEGACY?
Daly Cherry-Evans has been a champion player, but his time is up.
I can’t see how DCE comes back next year for the Roosters and doesn’t do an injustice to his legacy.
Sure, every now and then he can still turn one on for old time’s sake.
But the Roosters are kidding themselves if they expect DCE to come in over the top of young Hugo Savala and for it not to blow up in their face.
Haven’t the Roosters learned from the Chad Townsend experiment this year?
SEIBOLD ON DANGEROUS GROUND
Manly’s loss to Wests Tigers on Sunday also builds more pressure on Anthony Seibold.
There is no question the Sea Eagles’ depleted forward depth has left Seibold coaching with basically one hand tied behind his back.
But while no one at Manly seems to want to publicly admit it, there are also some very senior players who have lost faith in Seibold’s coaching style.
This story won’t go away no matter how hard Sea Eagles officials try to shut it down as outside noise.
The fact is the noise is coming from within.
“Worst performance in a long time” | 06:57
CIRALDO NOW PUTS BLOWTORCH ON DOGS’ FORWARDS
Just when you thought Cameron Ciraldo was ready to settle on his line up after dumping Toby Sexton and Reed Mahoney to bring in Lachlan Galvin and Bailey Hayward, Ciraldo has now taken aim at his forward pack.
And he didn’t mince his words when he spoke after the Bulldogs’ loss to the Roosters, conceding “when the intensity went up, a few guys didn’t want to go with it”.
There has been a question mark hanging over the Dogs pack all season, and whether they are big enough to compete with the heavyweight teams in the big end of season games.
But Ciraldo also singled out a drop in standards at training for the recent lack of consistency.
“We’ve had consistency for three quarters of the year. The last month has been disappointing,” he said.
“I sort of blame myself there because we’ve got some guys carrying niggles and they just get through training instead of actually training.
“I’m going to stop that. If you can’t train, it sort of results in a performance like that.”
It will be interesting to see if the Dogs can turn it around against the powerful Storm pack on Friday night.
Ciraldo hints at changes after big loss | 06:22
TIGERS HAVE OFFICIALLY TURNED THE CORNER
It was great to see the Tigers back up their gutsy win over the Bulldogs with a dominant win over Manly.
That ensures the wooden spoon will be going elsewhere this year, and the Tigers have officially turned the corner with Benji Marshall looking increasingly comfortable at the wheel.
While the Tigers remain an outside chance of making the top eight, it’s unlikely given they’d need to win all three remaining games and hope others above them fall over.
Still, there is no doubt the Tigers have the talent to be a top eight team next year if they can continue on this path.
