Graham Annesley, the head of football for the NRL, has blasted the Bunker for a “unacceptable” missed penalty that denied the Warriors a chance to take the lead in the closing minutes of a game they ultimately lost in golden point to the Bulldogs.
Warriors supporters, incensed that Bulldogs back-rower Jaeman Salmon was not punished for late hit on Te Maire Martin, which caused the Canterbury forward to come off with a broken jaw, will not be placated by Monday’s apologies.
“The Bunker did spend all of their time in this review trying to determine whether this was high contact or not,” Annesley lamented.
“What they didn’t do in this case was give due regard to the contact being late and whether the defender could have pulled out of this tackle or not, or at least reduced the velocity of it when it takes place.
“The match review committee did give due regard to the late nature of the contact and the fact that the ball had been passed. They found no evidence of contact with the head or neck, so he was charged with dangerous contact because of the late nature of the tackle.
“The real question is should this have been penalised on the field, and the answer to that is clearly ‘yes, it should have been’. Not because it was high but because it was late.
“I know this was at a critical part of the game. The Bunker did review the incident, but they didn’t give due regard to the issue of lateness.
“We think this is a miss by the match officials. It’s unacceptable, but that’s what took place and I wanted to make it absolutely clear with how that came about, what they were focused on and what they actually missed.”
