Nah Granville didn’t go looking for burgess, sure he wrapped his arms, but what was he supposed to do step aside? The onus is on burgess to run a clean decoy line, not on the defender to avoid contact. Reynolds took the ball directly behind burgess who effectively ran as a lead blocker. Bad call for mine.
Yep it was the wrong call simply because it has been a no try for the last couple of seasons. Granville clearly gave up thinking he'd get the penalty but that isn't the point.
It's my opinion that the so called early year blitz by referees has affected their judgement and decision making, & the flunker doesn't help
Turn it up. KNik almost got Roberts a try this very week with a kick. He isn't going great a halfback sure, but he isn't as completely bad as a lot of people make out and the Broncs are still winning.
Nik isn't going to take us to a Premiership at halfback though. Shane Perry had Lockyer and Milford is not Lockyer.
It wasn't a defensive decision though. Granville put his arms up to brace from being obliterated by a massive man. It was a clear obstruction.
Granville doesn't complain, at least not that I saw. That's an important factor, as players that are obstructed complain. He looks at Cook, and then he sees Burgess. He plants his feet, he leans forward to get the shoulder into the tackle which is what you do when making a tackle and he wraps the arms around. He wasn't putting the arms up to brace for the contact, he wraps them around the player. That's making a defensive decision. Mal said it best, he committed to the tackle. He made no attempt to follow the ball despite having the opportunity to do so. And the ball was received well on the outside shoulder. It was an excellent piece of work from Cook to hold the pass and fake to go short to Burgess. That attracted Granville's attention. It's a try. What Granville did is initiating contact.
All of this is true...except that has been an obstruction for probably the last 18 months or more. It was well worked but regardless, Burgess got in the way and Reynolds took advantage of the hole formed, as mentioned by another poster, Burgess is the definition of a lead runner or blocker or shepherd, whatever you prefer, in that instance. That sort of situation has been called back multiple times in the last season or so.
If Granville does nothing and just gets bowled over, it'd be a penalty for sure. It's sad that you have to milk it just to get the right decision. But the Rabbitohs were dudded anyway. Two really bad knock-on calls that never were, and that disallowed try. The replay clearly showed that the ball went backwards off the hand, before hitting his head, and then the bunker say "the ball goes forward off his hand". Absolute **** joke.
