Unfortunately, referees sometimes make bad calls, and nothing is worst when it is one that can change the course of a game – much like Sharks coach Shane Flanagan believed was the case in his side’s loss to the Tigers.
Flanagan was left seething at the end of the game, after referee Jared Maxwell penalised the Sharks for being off-side, from Todd Carney’s field-goal – but he highlights two other decisions that were poor from the experienced referee.
One such other incident was a disallowed try to Sharks back Colin Best – in which Flanagan received unusual support, from video referee Steve Clark, who said that he would have awarded the Sharks the try, had Maxwell sent it upstairs.
“… in the end, yeah, it did cost us the game,” Flanagan said of the controversial rulings.
“The Colin Best try, that’s a try every day of the week.
“The video referee is two boxes up from me and he says it was a try.
“We’ve got video referees and don’t use it – if we’re not going to use it, get rid of them, save some money.”
Paul Gallen, Sharks captain also added: “They’re (the referees) under a real lot of pressure but it’s just hard when their decision can decide the game, it’s just unfair and you just feel a bit gutted at the moment.”
The loss was a hard one to take for the Sharks, given they came so close, and he feels the pain of his players who fought valiantly to get back into the game.
“They’re hurting at the moment,” Flanagan said of his players.
“I can’t give them an answer … they’ve trained really hard over the off-season and to come to today, it was taken away from us.”
Although Tigers coach Tim Sheens knows exactly what his counterpart was thinking and feeling, he also knows that it is a feeling every coach will feel in the NRL merry-go-round.
“I feel for Cronulla in that respect but we’ve had our fair share over the years of losses,” Sheens said.
“We’re all going to be upset with the officials at some stage, but I think we’ve got to look at ourselves sometimes and say we had plenty of chances both sides and bombed some chances.”
Despite the Tigers win however, the game is likely to be overshadowed by an ACL injury to Tigers debutant, James Tedesco.
NRL News Dally M Points
Benji Marshall – 3
Todd Carney – 2
Beau Ryan – 1