By no means was the Origin decider dealt with poorly. Ashley Klein did a marvellous job officiating a flowing game with little stoppages.
Regardless of what you may think about the two sin-bins, referees have a duty of care to recognise malice – and a good biff is not standard practice in the current game of rugby league. It may have been in the past, but the ‘just let em’ play’ attitude is no longer permissible. Agreed, at times it hurts to watch, but that is the way the NRL are forging into the future.
Mitchell Moses breaks through. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
While Origin flies under the banner of the NRL, it is invariably, a different game. That is why it remains such a strong entertainment product. Heavy contact and a little niggle is let slide, as tempers flare to encourage big hits and sustained intensity.
Yet, there were moments when the fixture was wrongly adjudicated. With player safety at the forefront of rugby league, this is where the integrity of officiating must be questioned.
How Ben Hunt was cleared of concussion is beyond me. The hooker was momentarily knocked out and failed to regain balance after slamming into the knee and elbow of an uncaged Spencer Leniu. It was the 33rd minute, and while he was taken off for a head-injury-assessment – his return to the field should not have been up to a test.
Had the hit have taken place in a club game, Hunt would not have returned. His reaction was enough to justify a category one concussion, and health always comes before a high stakes contest.
The whole HIA concept needs clarity for the average punter. Angus Crichton was taken off for a similar assessment in the third minute of the game. He was forced to sit for a compulsory 15 minute siesta under the concussion protocols, while Hunt was off the field for a mere six minutes. Objectively, his knock to the noggin was twice as bad as the Blues second-rower’s. Where is the justification in this? Why was he not subjected to the same waiting period?
Category one symptoms result in a player not being able to return. They are immediately removed from the match. Under the NRL guidelines, these symptoms include lying motionless for five or more seconds, motor incoordination (loss of balance) , and/ or a vacant look. It took no doctor to note Hunt was out for the count.
Away from the head, Klein let go many generally deemed head high tackles. Especially throughout the first half, a flurry of heavy contact shots were made around the neck and shoulder region – constituting a reckless or careless tackle. In one instance, Jarome Luai flushed Tom Dearden smack in the neck after the Maroons No.6 made a line-break, but Klein gave it the green light. Unfortunately, a major factor on the final verdict of those tackles is governed by the reaction of the attacker. Dearden, being the tough player he is, played on with little emotion. If the five-eighth laid on the turf, the bunker would have intervened and called for a penalty.
Wind back the game clock and in the ninth minute – Kurt Capewell may have been facing a sin-bin if he were in a Warriors strip. He was penalised for a dangerous tackle on Stephen Crichton. It was a borderline horizontal lift and only just a penalty offence, with Crichton’s landing helping the veterans case. Yet, in recent weeks, Warriors winger Roger Tuivasa-Sheck was sent off for a parallel offence.
Tuivasa-Sheck lifted Jayden Campbell in the contact and was placed on report. The verdict left pundits gobsmacked, but it marked a new era of regulations towards horizontal-lifting. Klein seemed level-headed in such calls, which made for a spectacular watch. Fatigue stripped the game wide open – even with the 15 penalties that were blown.
There were 16 penalties conceded in game one, while the second fixture featured only four infringements pulled up by the whistle.
NSW did receive a handy call after a costly Stephen Crichton error. If anything, this was the most dubious call of the decider. Reece Walsh was placed on report and penalised for foot contact on the head of Crichton. Seriously, what was the No.1 supposed to do?
“I can’t disappear,” Walsh said to Klein. The contact involved no foul play and was purely incidental.
The high level of fatigue inadvertently showcased the courageous characters of Origin. Harry Grant played his heart out in the opening 30 minutes and was visibly dusted – ready for a rest. Spencer Leniu had other ideas. Bursting onto the field, Leniu was gifted with a barnstorming hit-up off a Daly Cherry-Evans drop out.
The bulldozer charged straight into Grant, who took down the 110 kilogram monster one-on-one. Grant was rocked in the contact and dazed, but it was the heart he showed in putting his body before anything else.
It was these moments throughout the decider that were dealt with superbly. No time to gather breath, no time to check if your head was still screwed on. Klein maintained the intensity of the battle and fans were treated to a fitting blow for blow blockbuster.
After a Blues barrage and the injected speed of Connor Watson, Klein was quite lenient on Queensland lying on the ruck.
In the final minutes of the game, Pat Carrigan and Reuben Cotter were purposely flopping onto the ball carrier to slow the set – but it was well beyond a reasonable period. Had the Maroons mounted a comeback, it would have certainly lodged into a defining talking point.
The reason Origin reigns supreme in ratings can be contributed to a deep rooted history of state rivalry. The truth is, people continue to tune in to Origin, those who aren’t even rugby league fans – because they witness 80-minutes unlike anything else. It features heightened aggression, bravery in bounds and a nonstop speed that is unmatched in the regular NRL. Those factors won’t change heading into the future – they are all player related attributes, enhanced by the calibre of quality on the field. But the whistle can halt everything. Say what you like, but Klein facilitated a cracking game of rugby league.
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