‘Clown show’: Farcical NRL prelim blunder ‘robbed us of a classic’

The Melbourne Storm are into the NRL Grand Final but only after a shocking moment that rocked commentators and fans alike.

This was ruled zero tackle. Photo: Fox Sports

The Melbourne Storm are the first team into the NRL Grand Final, completing a 48-18 win over the Sydney Roosters in front of a near-record crowd at Melbourne’s AAMI Park.

After a wild start saw Nelson Asofa-Solomona sin binned 19 seconds into the match, the Storm were relentless, taking a 22-6 lead at halftime to the dominant victory.

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But after the Roosters gave the Storm a fright early in the second half, a controversial try seemingly broke Sydney’s resolve as Melbourne booked their place in the decider.

The second half was blown wide open as the Roosters romped back into the game with two tries in two minutes through Terrell May and Nat Butcher.

Suddenly, the game went from 24-6 to 24-18 and it was more than game on with the Roosters on fire with over 30 minutes remaining.

However, in the 53rd minute a Jahrome Hughes bomb was tapped back by the Storm with Angus Crichton attempting to bat the ball back over the top of Alex MacDonald, with the ball going into the arms of the Storm’s Eliesa Katoa.

Katoa passed to Josh King, who was tackled 10m out.

But Crichton’s bat back saw referee Grant Atkins call zero tackle, and Hughes made the most of it, burrowing over through the Roosters as they were scrambling to get back onside to complete a hat-trick.

While the commentators were gushing about the performance of Hughes, the questions were soon being asked of the tackle before the try.

“Oh geez, the hands there of Alec MacDonald,” Michael Ennis said on Fox League. “I think we’ll here more of that.

“That certainly comes forward off the hands of Alex MacDonald. That’s a big call. That’s a big moment there.”

The ball then goes to an off-side player. Photo: Fox Sports

This is a knock on every day of the week. Photo: Fox Sports

On Nine, the replay saw Paul Vautin question the decision.

“Have they confirmed this try? My word, it looked like a knock-on on the replay,” he said.

Lead commentator Mat Thompson explained as the play had ended, the Bunker couldn’t review the decision.

“So that try was confirmed — this is the tackle before,” Vautin added.

“That’s definitely come off MacDonald’s hands and gone forwards.

“No doubt there are these hands right on it. It goes forward to a player who is off-side and that was let go and then from the next play the ball, Melbourne scored and you can’t go back to that.”

Fans were stunned by the decision.

Nine News Queensland’s Luke Bradnam tweeted: “I don’t have a dog in the fight but I’m filthy the ref missed the knock on and gifted to storm a try, it’s robbed us of a classic game.”

Western Weekender reporter Lachlan Jeffrey posted: “If I had a nickel for every time the Storm have scored a finals try against the Roosters despite a blatant knock on on a previous play, I’d have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.”

One wrote: “How was that play on after that clear knock on?!? Game is f’d.”

Another fan tweeted: “The one time the bunker SHOULD get involved, to point out a blatant knock on, and they don’t. The @NRL is a clown show. And I’m supporting the Storm!”

A third said: “How was that not a @storm knock on there? How did the bunker confirm that try? Annesley best be hoping that this match is not decided by six points or less the storms way. Shocker.”

Other fans hit back saying that it could hardly be deemed as the match deciding moment, even though it was a six-point ball-game at the time.

The Storm are Grand Final bound. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

It’s all over for the Roosters. Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

But the Storm showed why they were minor premiers, flexing their muscle to blow the Roosters off the park late.

A pair of late tries to Cameron Munster blew the scoreline out as the Storm reached their tenth grand final in the Craig Bellamy era — although four of those were between 2006 and 2009, which saw the 2007 and 2009 titles stripped during the 2010 salary cap scandal.

The match started in bizarre circumstances when Asofa-Solomona was sin binned for the first tackle of the game, which also saw Lindsay Collins ruled out of the match with a Category 1 concussion.

The Storm were lucky not to have been two players down when Hughes appeared to trip Angus Crichton, who was chasing a bomb.

While the Roosters kicked a penalty goal before scoring through Daniel Tupou, the rest of the first half was all Melbourne as the home side piled on four tries to set up the victory.