He wasn’t calling for an investigation, but Manly coach Geoff Toovey was again left bemoaning a referee’s undue influence on the outcome of a contest as the Sea Eagles bowed out of the NRL premiership race on Saturday night.
They were left cursing their luck when referee Gerard Sutton was hit by a fifth-tackle kick from Canterbury playmaker Josh Reynolds late in their golden point 18-17 loss on Saturday night.
Sutton decided he had affected play and gave the Bulldogs a scrum feed that led to six more tackles 20m out from from Manly’s line.
From the ensuing set of six, halfback Trent Hodkinson landed a field goal to put the Dogs 17-16 ahead in the 75th minute before his Manly counterpart Daly Cherry-Evans returned the favour in the 79th minute to put the game into extra time.
“So much for referees not having a direct outcome on the result of the game,” Toovey said.
“Let’s face it, that is what happened.
“It was the last tackle and it hits the ref, they get the feed and they kick the field goal.”
The Manly mentor said he didn’t think it was a deliberate ploy from Reynolds.
“I think it was just a poor kick,” he said.
Toovey was also left shaking his head over the NRL’s ‘one punch and you are off’ rule after both Sea Eagles prop Josh Starling and Canterbury utility Reni Maitua were sin-binned for striking.
Starling reacted to a ‘chicken wing’ tackle from Dogs back-rower Josh Jackson in the 23rd minute.
Maitua punched James Hasson in a melee, which followed Cheyse Blair’s 71st minute try.
“You retaliate and you get 10 minutes,” Toovey said of Starling’s sin-binning.
“I can’t change the rule or the result … the whole thing is ridiculous.
“A bloke can grab your shirt and punch you in the head and a bloke hits back and he gets 10 minutes … and when you arm-lock a bloke, you don’t get 10 minutes.
“The whole thing is out of control.”
Jackson was put on report for the chicken wing and could miss Saturday’s preliminary final with Penrith.
Last year, Toovey famously claimed there needed to be an investigation into NRL refereeing after a decision went against his side in a loss to South Sydney.
