Storm seek obstruction clarification

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy will ask the NRL for clarification of the obstruction rule after he and skipper Cameron Smith were left confused over Newcastle’s first try on Sunday.

Bellamy said he couldn’t see how, under the current interpretation of the obstruction rule, the video referee could award Knights fullback Jake Mamo with a first-half try.

Mamo slipped through a gap in the Storm defence in the 21st minute and dotted down to level the scores.

On-field referee Henry Perenara sent the try upstairs for a possible obstruction and replays appeared to show Mamo take the pass from halfback Trent Hodkinson inside lead runner Mitch Barnett.

But after much deliberation the bunker gave the green light.

Smith argued the point with Perenara and was mercilessly booed by Knights fans.

“They said that Cooper made a bad defensive read,” Smith said afterwards.

“We’ve been told that those sweep runners out the back can’t receive the ball inside those punch runners or block runners.

“I thought that was the case today.

“I was just a little bit confused.”

Bellamy agreed with his skipper and said he would be following the decision up with the NRL.

“There has been some tries earlier in the year where if you catch the ball on the inside of your lead runner it’s no try,” Bellamy said.

“I know we got one disallowed against the Warriors and there were a few others. If that interpretation has been changed, we’d like to hear about it.

“I’ll ask – hopefully we can get an explanation that satisfies everyone.”

Knights coach Nathan Brown said he thought Mamo’s effort was a try.

“I thought it was definitely a fair try, simply because (Mitch Barnett) had drifted out and Cooper ran to him,” Brown said.

“It is Cooper’s decision.

“If he doesn’t run to him there is no space.”

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