The Gold Coast Titans have been dudded again in golden point extra time and should have had a shot at penalty goal from in front to win against Canberra on Sunday night.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley confirmed on Monday that Raiders fullback Chevy Stewart was offside when he charged down Titans captain Kieran Foran’s attempt at field goal in the 87th minute.
“I think it was probably a good metre offside,” fuming Titans coach Des Hasler said after his team’s 21-20 loss.
“Let’s hear from the hard-running Graham Annesley, so hopefully he will have a better idea about it Monday.”
Annesley confirmed in a video presentation on Monday that Stewart was not back 10m when the ball cleared the ruck.
“He, in this instance, is offside,” Annesley said.
“That was an error and should have been picked up by the touch judges.”
Annesley said that, in the first instance, the Titans should have received a set restart for the infringement, but the ball ricocheted away and they knocked-on and did not receive any advantage.
“If they had picked up the offside player, waved six-again and the play breaks down … then they will say there is no advantage and give the penalty,” he said.
Hasler also queried why the Bunker did not look at the incident
“The Bunker cannot review 10m compliance,” Annesley said. “It doesn’t happen in any other aspect of play.”
However, Annesley provided a list of independent statistics from the match on 10m compliance that showed Gold Coast got away with plenty themselves. The stats revealed the Titans were offside 28 times that they were not pinged for.
Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty ultimately slotted a 90th minute field goal to give his side victory in Canberra.
It was a case of deja vu for the Titans
Last year Annesley conceded the Titans should have been awarded a penalty in front of the posts in the closing minutes of Parramatta’s 25-24 win in round 20.
Eels forwards Ryan Matterson and Shaun Lane were both a metre offside when the ball cleared the ruck as Titans No.7 Tanah Boyd missed a 76th minute field goal attempt.
On Sunday night both coaches were in fine form. Raiders coach Ricky Stuart said Hasler was “on another planet” after the Titans mentor also blasted the refereeing of Kasey Badger.
He said her performance was “pretty poor” after his team conceded five penalties to three, and gave away eight set restarts to the Raiders’ one.
Stuart fired back and accused the Titans of “cheating” by wrestling his players for extended periods while they attempted to play the ball, suggesting they could have received “another 10 or 12” set restarts.
“If he’s critical of the six-agains and the penalties, he’s on another planet,” Stuart said.
“He coached well … but the way they cheated when they were standing there with their hand on the ball … the way they cheated on the ground.
“I feel sorry for Kasey the way they were in her face all night.”
Hasler, who joked he’d be fined $25,000 for his rant, said “some” of the penalties were warranted.
“Some of them just leave us battling field position the whole time,” he said.
Annesley’s stats also showed that the Raiders were offside on 10 occasions that were not penalised, but overall they were onside 94 per cent of the time compared to the Titans’ 89.4 per cent.
By Joel Gould and Alex Mitchell in Canberra
