NRL 2020, round 9 | Melbourne Storm defeat Canberra Raiders in icy thriller
The Canberra Raiders have suffered a brutal double blow that may derail its season — and Storm skipper Cam Smith has dug the boot in.
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A Canberra Raiders sin bin drama has been compounded by a seemingly serious injury to Josh Hodgson against the Melbourne Storm.
The Storm took a 12-6 lead to the break but Melbourne’s second try came in controversial circumstances after a Bunker call that’s been heavily slammed.
But the luck was really not going the Raiders’ way with a key second half Elliott Whitehead try denied in a knock on as the Storm hung on for a 20-14 win.
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After trading tries early, the Storm were attacking the Raiders’ line when the drama stuck.
The Storm shifted left and in a nightmare situation, hooker Josh Hodgson went down with a knee injury to which the medical officer on watch reportedly said “poor bugger”.
It’s feared it was his ACL.
While the opposite knee to serious ACL injury he suffered in 2017, the worst is feared for the Canberra superstar.
But as the ball went out wide and was grubbered in by Ryley Jacks, Raiders winger Bayley Simonsson turned and went for the ball, but Josh Addo-Carr ran in with Andrew Voss immediately saying he was “tackled” without the ball.
Greg Alexander said “I thought he made a lunge for the footy and Addo-Carr’s run into Simonsson,” he said.
The Bunker official saw it differently.
“Bayley Simonsson has played the man ahead of the ball,” Bunker official Ben Galea said.
“That’s a bad call,” Alexander said before the professional foul and sin bin was awarded. “No it’s not.
“He doesn’t even know Addo-Carr is there. He’s not even looking at Addo-Carr — that’s a bad call.”
Cooper Cronk added: “I can’t agree. There’s no doubt that Simonsson is playing the ball and the contact of the bodies are coming together.”
Michael Ennis called the decision “ridiculous” at halftime.
Canberra coach Ricky Stuart was far from happy by the call, particularly when Hodgson is also seemingly gone for some time.
But post-match, Gorden Tallis tried to bait Storm skipper Cameron Smith, calling him the “greatest referee for the past 17 or 18 years” and asked for his take on the sin bin.
Smith said: “I would have been happy for him to stay on the field actually and just get the penalty try”.
The Storm then exploited the overlap with Addo-Carr scoring in the next set to a chorus of boos from the home side.
Fans weren’t happy with the call however and slammed the Bunker.
Bunker got that wrong #NRLRaidersStorm
— Colin Brooks MP (@ColinBrooksMP) July 11, 2020
Why is it always the Raiders that get a shit call from the refs - every time #NRLRaidersStorm https://t.co/EYw4zNLQCr
— Becko (@beckodotcom) July 11, 2020
Suppose the bunker thought if I’m gonna stuff this up, I might as well go all in.
— Josh Jerga (@josh_jerga) July 11, 2020
Poor. Actually worse than poor decision. #NRLRaidersStorm
Ref should send himself to the bin for that #NRLRaidersStorm
— Nathan Appo (@Elusive_Sausage) July 11, 2020
Doubt we see a Bunker decision worse than that this season. Dreadful stuff #NRLRaidersStorm
— Sam Phillips (@samphillips06) July 11, 2020
The second half was blown open for the Storm when Ryan Papenhuyzen ran the length of the field to score to open up a 20-6 lead.
The Raiders are never a team to give up and scored two tries to make it close but ran out of time to get over the line in the six point loss.
Originally published as NRL 2020, round 9 | Melbourne Storm defeat Canberra Raiders in icy thriller