‘Can he send himself off?’: Andrew Johns rips referee after bombing Dragons try

The race for the NRL’s top eight has been blown wide open after the moment a ref was hit with the ball showed it wasn’t the Dragons’ day.

The Cronulla Sharks’ grip on a spot in the NRL top four has tightened after a dominant 38-10 win over the Dragons, which has blown the race for the final spot in the top eight wide open.

The results over the weekend have left just one spot up for grabs and five teams in contention with the potential for it to be decided in round 27.

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Despite the loss, the Dragons are on 28 competition points with a match against the last-placed Eels in round 26.

However, the Dragons’ points differential is -120, meaning if they lose to the Eels or the Raiders in the final round of the season, and any of the Broncos, Dolphins, Knights or Raiders — who are all on 26 competition points — win both of their games, the Dragons could be knocked out of the finals race.

Of those four chasing teams, only the Raiders at -131 have a worse points differential.

The Dragons will be ruing the missed opportunity against the Sharks as they could have all but wrapped up their place in the finals with a win.

After going down 14-6 at halftime, the Dragons fought back through a Christian Tuipilotu try in the corner to make it 14-10 in the 55th minute.

The Sharks responded with four unanswered tries to blow out the scoreline, but were also buoyed as the Dragons showed they had no luck.

In the 65th minute it was 26-10 with the Dragons attempting one last comeback.

A scoot out of dummy half from Jacob Liddle saw Ben Hunt run away for a line break.

With just Will Kennedy to beat, Hunt passed back on the inside for Zac Lomax — only the ball never made it as it hit referee Ashley Klein.

Klein was hit by the pass. Photo: Fox Sports

Klein was in the way. Photo: Fox Sports

“Oh Ashley,” Michael Ennis said on Fox Sports.

“Ashley Klein’s handling has let him down,” Andrew Voss joked. “They were going to score the Dragons, that’s an unfortunate moment here.”

Voss added that he “thought he threw it forward into the ref, I reckon Hunt threw a forward pass”.

“He could have dropped into the burpee,” Ennis laughed.

On Channel 9, Andrew Johns joked: “Can that be a penalty try? Can he send himself off?

“It’s unfortunate, these things happen — he can’t disappear.”

Mat Thompson added it “cost them a try”.

“Ashley should have taken the pass and runaway and scored himself,” Thompson said.

On field, the tensions were getting frayed.

“I’ve got nowhere to go, do not argue,” Klein was heard saying.

Fans weren’t happy, saying Klein “ruined any chance of a comeback”.

From the replay, it did look like the pass from Hunt was forward, but if the referee didn’t call it, it cannot be picked up by the Bunker.

Ben Hunt is all Dragons fans. Photo: Fox Sports

Fans also questioned whether the Dragons should have got a scrum feed but the NRL mutual infringement rule states: “Following a play-the-ball, the Referee shall restart play by returning to the point of the previous play the ball and allowing the team which was in possession at that point to play the ball again.

“The play-the-ball to restart the game is not counted as an additional tackle and the player who was previously tackled with the ball immediately prior to the mutual infringement is to play the ball to restart the game.”

It took the ball back to the 50m line with the Dragons finishing the set with Lomax catching a bomb, only to be stopped by the Sharks defence.

However, salt was rubbed into the wound at the other end when the Sharks scored through Samuel Stonestreet off a forward pass that commentators called before the try had been awarded.

“Oh boy, gee whiz, that’s a metre forward in front of the touch judge,” Ennis said.

It sets up a grandstand finish to lock in the finals with only the Storm’s final position as minor premiers locked in stone, with plenty of movement still possible as teams jostle for home advantage in week one.