Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has suggested the officials were “100 per cent wrong” to not send Broncos fullback Reece Walsh off for what appeared to be a clear cut headbutt on Hudson Young, with the minor premiers now bracing for a short turnaround after a heartbreaking loss in extra-time.
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Walsh was sent to the sin bin for an incident in the 52nd minute when he appeared to lash out with his head, with Young also marched for instigating the melee in the wild 29-28 qualifying final.
It was a chaotic few minutes with Brisbane reduced to 11 men after Pat Carrigan was sent to the sin bin for a high shot on Morgan Smithies, with the Broncos then roaring back from 16 points down to win it in the 94th minute after Walsh had tied things up with a penalty goal after the siren.
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Stuart didn’t want to take away from the game of the year even though the Raiders thought they’d won it twice, with Walsh tearing them apart on Sunday with a try, two assists and a couple of 40/20s in a freakish display.
“It doesn’t matter what I think about it,” he said after the game.
“They’ve set a precedent now. You’re allowed to headbutt.
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“If Joe (Canberra captain Joe Tapine) or Hudson had have used their head on Reece Walsh, what do you think would have happened to them?
“Let’s not make it about that. It was a wonderful game of football between two very good footy teams with some outstanding footballers out there.
“There was an unbelievable spectacle for rugby league. They (the officials) got it 100 per cent wrong, but we shouldn’t make it about that because it was an unbelievable promotion of the game itself.”
The fact Young got sent to the sin bin for simply celebrating a mistake was perhaps even more farcical than the call to allow Walsh to come back on the field, with Tapine at a loss to explain how his side was penalised.
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“The ref said he got in his face,” he recalled.
“I said ‘you’re allowed to celebrate a play because we just got a good play’. I said ‘if I was to celebrate a good play and someone punched me, am I in the wrong for celebrating?’
“I don’t know how they got the penalty.”
The minor premiers thought they’d earned the week off when Jamal Fogarty scored what appeared to be the winning try the set before Ben Hunt’s field goal, only for the Bunker to spot a knock on.
Stuart didn’t want to comment on the decision, with the veteran coach now tasked with picking his side up mentally and physically ahead of a showdown with the Sharks on Saturday where the visitors will have an extra day of rest.
“That’s my job. I’ve got to pick me up and I’ve got to pick them, and we spoke about that,” he said.
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“If you’re not hurting right now then you shouldn’t be doing the job. We’ll dust ourselves off and go again.
“We’ve got to be professional enough to have a day off tomorrow and then we’ll get going again.
“We’ll keep our same schedule but we certainly won’t be doing a lot of work this week. If you need to be doing a lot of work at this time of year then you’re probably doing something wrong.”
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