Roosters coach Trent Robinson was fuming at the referees over a number of calls after Mitch Kenny was not punished for a hip drop tackle that caused a MCL injury to Nat Butcher.
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Butcher went off with a knee injury, but Kenny was not sin-binned or placed on report and the Panthers were not even penalised, which drew the ire of Robinson in the aftermath of the 40-12 loss.
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“He has got an MCL injury, it is pretty disappointing,” Robinson said.
“Nothing was mentioned at all in the game, but in the tackle he gets an MCL injury and he is done for the night.”
Robinson was pressed if there was any confusion over the hip-drop tackle.
“I don’t know, there is no confusion there, well not from my point of view,” Robinson said.
“I don’t know how it was there, but not to even have a discussion and a guy to do an MCL and finished for the game, it is pretty clear.”
Roosters skipper James Tedesco missed the incident on the field, but was confused why the Bunker didn’t act on the incident.
“I didn’t get a feel for it no, but they have gone back on tackles before sets later, so I don’t know if it was looked at by the Bunker or referees, but nothing was said or done,” Tedesco said.
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Robinson was also frustrated with a couple of calls, including Dylan Edwards’ escaping a sin bin for a professional foul on Tedesco that could have been a penalty try to the Roosters and a couple of escort decisions that went against his side.
“I thought there was a couple of turning points on last tackles,” Robinson said.
“If you are going for the ball, you are going for the ball. Standing tall and it was 10 metres away from where he kicked it and where the collision was, so I didn’t like that one.
“Then we had an escort penalty down on the line against Radley and one at the other end that was a complete opposite on Mark Nawaqanitawase.
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“I thought they were poor calls and they can change moments. We got beaten over the course of the whole game, but they are big moments, whether it was the knee or the challenge on Tedesco.
“There wasn’t a going for the ball there. It was standing and leaning on Tedesco on that side.
“And then you go those escort penalties. I don’t see how you can go Radley, who is moving towards the ball, which you are allowed to and then Nathan Cleary moving away from the ball towards Mark.
“Those decisions are really, really clear and they are big plays. If you were going to ping the escorts it was the set after. It is really simple and clear.”
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Robinson was pressed on whether Edwards should have gone to the bin.
“Yeah we were expecting Dylan Edwards to have 10 in the bin, by the way I explained it,” Robinson said.
“Going for a ball around your legs, you go for a ball around your legs. You don’t stand tall and then move to your right. He kicked it 10 metres away from him.
“That’s my view. Possibly biased but that’s my view.”
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