Penrith coach Ivan Cleary has unleashed on the NRL bunker after his team booked a ticket to its fifth straight NRL grand final with victory over Cronulla.
The Panthers ended up with a convincing 26-6 victory over the Sharks, but were denied a try with the game still up for grabs in the 58th minute.
With scores tight at 10-2, winger Sunia Turuva crossed on the end of a slick left-side shift and on-field referee Ashley Klein called it a try.
But the bunker overturned the call as it ruled an obstruction from contact between Panthers back rower Luke Garner and Cronulla’s Sifa Talakai.
The Sharks went up the other end and got their only try of the match through Sione Katoa before the Panthers regained control with three tries in the final 20 minutes, but Cleary sent a clear message in his post-match press conference.
The coach and his son and captain Nathan Cleary both said they ran the play to perfection and Garner ran towards Talakai’s inside shoulder, with the Sharks centre initiating contact before going to ground.
Not only did Ivan label the decision wrong, he singled out the bunker official by name.
“It was a terrible decision,” he told reporters, kicking off a rant that will surely earn him a hefty fine.
“And that gives me a lot of anxiety around next week if that official, I think it was Chris Butler … I don’t want to, I shouldn’t say that … but that was wrong, and it’s been happening all year.”
The three-time premiership-winning coach cited veteran Wayne Bennett’s complaints after the final game of the regular season, when he called for the bunker to be scrapped after his Dolphins were denied a try by a similar call.
“That worries me about next week, if that same bunker official, either he or someone else going off the same script … I’m concerned,” Cleary said.
“We got through it obviously, but it’s just terrible. There’s no understanding of what we’re trying to do, the play we’re trying to run, when it’s run properly.
“I know we got through the game tonight, but next week, the biggest game of the year, I’d hate for something like that to happen. Whoever’s in [the bunker] needs to understand what we’re trying to do.
“There’s a lot of referees not reffing next week, some of the best in the game, so surely someone can work that out.”
Cleary may have been referring to Adam Gee, who earned plaudits for his efforts as the primary match official in last year’s grand final, but who has not been given control of a game in this year’s finals series.
