Roosters coach Trent Robinson and captain James Tedesco have disagreed with the awarding of Manly’s first try during their 21-14 loss to the Sea Eagles, with both believing it should have been a penalty in their favour.
In the 6th minute, Manly hooker Lachlan Croker picked up a loose ball and scored after a knock on from James Tedesco from a Sea Eagles bomb.
However, Manly star Tom Trbojevic made contact with Tedesco as he jumped for the ball.
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While minimal, the contact should have been enough to warrant a penalty based on what teams were told by the NRL.
“I mean it’s clear that wasn’t (a try). Obviously it was a no try. Pretty simple but I don’t think we would have won the game,” Robinson said in his post-game presser.
“It’s pretty simple that that’s been the rule that they’ve sent out, they’ve been really clear that’s a penalty so it was a strange one.”
The try was awarded on field by referee Todd Smith, and despite Fox League commentators Greg Alexander and Warren Smith’s belief it would be disallowed, it never even went up to the Bunker for further consideration.
“I’m stunned that that isn’t a penalty for the Roosters,” Alexander said.
“I am surprised,” Smith added.
Tedesco said he asked Todd Smith for clarity, but didn’t get any. The Roosters skipper said despite the incorrect decision, his side didn’t deserve to win.
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“I asked Todd (Smith) the question as he made contact in the air,” Tedesco said.
“We’ve watched clips on that and that’s a penalty. Probably wouldn’t have affected the game as we made too many errors, had no momentum and we were on the back foot defending for most of the game.”
Robinson agreed with his captain’s assessment of the Roosters’ performance, believing Manly was the better team on the day.
“They controlled the game for 80 minutes. They were in control and we were playing catch up and a long way from them for the game,” the Roosters coach told reporters.
“It was a bit disjointed from us and the left hand wasn’t speaking to the right hand at times. We couldn’t get any momentum and that’s credit to Manly.”
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