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NRL Grand Final 2019 | Sydney Roosters win controversial victory over Canberra Raiders

Social media lit up following an insanely controversial moment in the final minutes of the Grand Final that cost the Canberra Raiders.

Andrew McMurtryAndrew McMurtry
@AndrewMcMurtry
5 min read
October 7, 2019 - 8:34AM
The Roosters left the Raiders feeling numb.
The Roosters left the Raiders feeling numb.

The NRL Grand Final has gone to the Sydney Roosters after a controversial 14-8 win in a thriller against the Canberra Raiders.

The Raiders looked strong throughout the match and seemed destined to cause a major grand final upset and ruin Cooper Cronk’s farewell.

In a stunning turn of events, the Raiders’ Jack Wighton was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal, the fifth player from a losing side to claim the award.

But there were three massive moments of controversy that marred the Grand Final.

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The NRL Grand Final has been shrouded in controversy after a horrific call was ignored, leading to the final try of the game.

It wasn’t the only controversy of the game with the Raiders cost an early attacking raid when a trainer interfered with a loose ball to hand the Roosters a fresh set of six from which hooker Sam Verrills scored before a second half sin binning of Cooper Cronk.

But with less than 10 minutes remaining, the Raiders were attacking the line before a bomb went up, bouncing back to Canberra.

Referee Ben Cummins appeared to call six again with Canberra five-eighth Jack Wighton with the ball before sticking his arm in the air to signal it was the last tackle.

Wighton went to ground with the ball and got up to play the ball but the referee said it was a handover.

“I’m sure he indicated six more?” Channel 9’s Ray Warren said in commentary.

“They did, they waved six again and then they changed their mind,” Phil Gould said.

“Hang on, maybe the Bunker was telling them they made a mistake are they?” Warren said.

“Did they not wave six again? Wighton is saying ‘you waved six again’ otherwise I would have kicked,” Gould said before it was confirmed. “That is a wave of six again.”

Ben Cummins copped a barrage of criticism from the fans.
Ben Cummins copped a barrage of criticism from the fans.

The Roosters scored the match winning try at the other end of the field in the next set of six through James Tedesco.

Fans, celebrities and sportspeople were livid on social media with #SixAgain quickly trending on Twitter Australia-wide.

Channel 9’s commentary panel looked at the footage with the referee calling six again and then changing his decision with the Raiders blowing up.

Johnathan Thurston roasted the call.

“Dumbfounded, I am dumbfounded by that,” he said. “You can hear the referee calling six again and then changing the call on the run. It’s not a good look, it’s not a good look at all. I’d be pretty shattered if I was the Raiders because the next set, Tedesco scores and wins them the match.

“As a team, you want to take the referees out of the equation and win the game by being a consistent footy team, but huge huge call.”

Peter Sterling said it was the problem with the two referees.

“That’s the argument against two referees,” he said. “You actually hear six again and then you hear ‘is it, is it,” and the other referee calls play on. But John Bateman goes across and Jarrod Croker goes across because they’d seen the signal. And that’s the thing, once you’ve seen the signal, that determines your next action.”

Paul Gallen said the pocket referee was behind the play and added to the confusion.

Six more.
Six more.
Cummins changed his mind.
Cummins changed his mind.

Fans quickly got to work with a GoFundMe page to pay Raiders coach Ricky Stuart’s fine if he unloaded at the refereeing.

Stuart remained calm next to Clive Churchill Medal winner Wighton and captain Croker.

“Mate, you all saw it,” he said. “None of us here will be commenting on that tonight, it’s not the time. The Roosters achieved something very special tonight, winning two grand finals in a row and we don’t want to take the spotlight off that.”

Stuart encouraged the media to write what they think and said he congratulated the referees on a big job.

But it came out that Stuart had declined to talk to the NRL head of football Graham Annesley.

Wighton said “it was the worst feeling in his life”.

“Everyone seen it with their eyes. I would have tried to get a repeat set if it wasn’t six again. I was just following the boss but it’s not something I’m going to blame the game on even though it was probably a big passage of the game.”

Annesley said he had seen the Cummins call but felt the ball came off the shoulder of the Raiders player and the referee called “last tackle” four times before the play broke down.

“It’s very disappointing that the game has been mired in controversy after the initial six again call but ultimately I feel the decision not to award six more tackles was correct and had they not corrected that decision, I’d probably be standing here talking to you now about the fact that a try may have been scored off an incorrect decision where six tackles shouldn’t have been awarded.”

Thurston took on what Annesley said but admitted: “I’ve never seen a referee change a decision as soon as he’s made it.”

CRONK BINNED ON FINAL OUTING

But it worked out in the end for him.
But it worked out in the end for him.

It almost looked as if Cooper Cronk was going home without a trophy and with a stint in the sin bin after the retiring great was pulled up for a professional foul against Raiders forward Josh Papalii. Cronk tackled Papalii before he had the ball as the Raiders weapon burst onto a ball at short range near the try line.

Replays showed Cronk had made contact with Papalii just before Papalii caught the pass.

“That’s not a sin bin,” Andrew Johns said.

Phil Gould said there was just a fraction of a second between Cronk’s contact and Papalii catching the ball.

“Extremely tough decision,” he said.

“I don’t know how they’ve created this. There is a split second in this, an absolute split second.”

“Hang on for me,” Cronk told halves partner Luke Keary as he left the field.

FANS LIVID AT TRAINER KERFUFFLE

The ball cannons off Sia Soliola's head.
The ball cannons off Sia Soliola's head.

Controversy met ANZ Stadium minutes into the grand final on Sunday when the Roosters were seemingly let off the hook after a stray trainer collided with the ball.

A charge down from Raiders star Sia Soliola saw a kick from Luke Keary ricochet into an unidentified Sydney trainer jogging behind the backline.

Incredibly, the Roosters weren’t penalised and were instead awarded the scrum feed deep into Raiders territory.

It was all the favourites needed to send young hooker Sam Verrills over for a try to take them to a cool 6-0 before the visitors could scratch their heads. NRL greats Phil Gould and Andrew Johns sat bemused by the incident, which has generated a storm of controversy on social media.

“This could have been a huge advantage to the Raiders, but it will be an attacking scrum to the Roosters,” Gould said on Channel 9’s coverage.

“It hits the trainer right in the head.”

“And have a look at Whitehead he is away there,” Andrew Johns added.

“Whitehead could have scored there.”

Fans on Twitter were furious, labelling the officiating of the sport’s biggest match of the year a “joke”.

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