- Dolphins held on for tense win over Manly Sea Eagles
- There was great controversy with the game at stake
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Managing concussions and cracking down on high shots is high on the NRL agenda, but the game’s greats fear for the future of the sport after a soft penalty in the Dolphins’ clash with the Sea Eagles on Thursday.
With 18 minutes remaining and the score 22 overall, the NRL Bunker took center stage with a ridiculous decision that left the commentators baffled.
Men’s defender Tom Trbojevic had comfortably received a high ball, but lost the ball while struggling to play the ball quickly.
The Sea Eagles opted to use their Captain’s Challenge in a desperate attempt to retain possession at a crucial moment in the match, and video referee Gerard Sutton delivered.
He found the slightest of slaps to Jesse Bromwich’s face that commentator Cooper Cronk said “wouldn’t bust a grape” and decided to penalize the Dolphins.
Channel Nine commentator and Sea Eagles great Paul Vautin was furious.
The NRL video referee hit the Dolphins with a highly controversial penalty when Jesse Bromwich accidentally hit Tom Trbojevic in the face on Thursday night (pictured).
NRL great Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin (pictured) was furious with the decision to impose a penalty for a slap that his former star Cooper Cronk said “wouldn’t burst a grape”.
Jesse Bromwich was also taken aback by the decision, with the Manly defender appearing to fall into his open palm.
It infuriated Vautin that decisions like that could ruin the structure of the game.
“In fact, it fell into the open palm of Jesse Bromwich,” he said in the commentary.
‘Are you serious? Our game is over. It’s over if you’re penalizing that. Honestly.
—I bet you the guy who made that decision has never stepped foot on a football field. What a mess!
Fox League’s Warren Smith said it was such a bad decision that even Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett would disagree with it.
“Wayne Bennett has been in the NRL longer than anyone and he’s looking and thinking, ‘Wow, that’s where we’ve come?'” he said.
If anything, I would have fixed a couple of eyelashes.
Maroons legend Johnathan Thurston backed Vautin’s claim that penalties like that could end the game.
“Look, we just want consistency,” he said.
‘There are tons of these in every game. That’s a faucet. There is no forceful contact. It has to be forceful contact to the head and that is a penalty.
‘If you hit him like that, it’s not forceful contact. I was stunned by that pain.
“Like Fatty said, rugby league died tonight after seeing that.”
The night ended on a sour note for Trbojevic: the Sea Eagles lost and the star defender suffered another hamstring injury.
It was a tense night for Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett as his team held on to beat Manly.
NRL fans also lamented the state of the game on social media after the penalty.
“The once great game of the ’70s is a different game than what we see today,” one posted.
“This is a result of rule changes that make ANY head contract a penalty,” another posted.
“Welcome to the doctors and lawyers game,” added another.
While Trbojevic was affected by that decision, his night ended on a sour note with a suspicion hamstring injury as the Dolphins came from behind to record a stirring 30-24 victory at Suncorp Stadium.
The NSW Blues star left the field trying to save a try in the corner in the 69th minute on Thursday night, while colliding with a cameraman at the same time.
Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold said he would undergo scans to determine the extent of the injury.
“It’s a hamstring injury, but I’m not really sure how serious it is,” Seibold said.