NRL kingpin Graham Annesley dispels myth amid fallout from Latrell Mitchell hit

The NRL has set the record straight about Latrell Mitchell’s hit on Joey Manu and confirmed the fate of the match official at the centre of the drama.

Annesley has dispelled the biggest myth around the Latrell hit. Picture: Fox Sports / Getty Images

The NRL’s head of football, Graham Annesley, has dispelled the biggest myth surrounding Latrell Mitchell’s controversial hit on Joseph Manu, confirming the match official at the centre of the saga will not be sacked.

Mitchell ended both Manu’s season and his own when he shouldercharged the Roosters centre midway through the second half of the Rabbitohs’ round 24 win.

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The hit caused quiet the stir in the Roosters’ camp, with head coach Trent Robinson letting loose at the match officials’ “laughable” handling of the incident.

Mitchell accepted a six-match ban for his tackle and will not play again until 2022. Picture: Chris Hyde / Getty Images

Robinson, who has since been fined $20,000 for his comments, took specific aim at bunker official Henry Perenara in his post-match press conference.

The Roosters coach claimed it took Joseph Manu firing up about the tackle to alert the match officials to its severity.

“Perenara, who’s supposed to know some footy, sitting up in the box – and then doesn’t do anything about it. For maybe 30, 40, 50 seconds, doesn’t do a thing about it,” Robinson said.

“It’s a common theme this year, about the NRL and the bunker not looking after our players.”

However, speaking at his weekly briefing on Monday, Annesley said Robinson was incorrect in saying the match officials had not picked up on the incident.

“There was a perception that (the tackle) was missed in live play and it was only picked up after Joey Manu approached Latrell at the stoppage in play,” he said.

“That is not the case, that’s not what happened.

“The touch judge on that side of the field noticed that there was potentially a problem with the tackle immediately (after) it took place.

“This thing happened in the blink of an eye at high pace and was very, very difficult for anyone to pick up in live action.

“But the touch judge felt there was at least a big question mark over the tackle and he alerted the bunker immediately to start reviewing the play.”

Robinson said Perenara should ‘get out of (the bunker)’ if he was unable to do his job effectively. Picture: Chris Hyde / Getty Images

Annesley said play was allowed to continue as the Roosters were in possession of the ball, during which time the bunker commenced its review of the hit.

“In a lot of these incidents where you have big hits on players that do come under the scrutiny of the bunker, the ball carrier will usually be on the ground and play will have stopped while the player receives attention,” he said.

“In this case, the ball was passed and the play continued and there was a further four tackles before the referee awarded a penalty for another offence.

“It was during that subsequent period of four tackles that the bunker had started to commence the review of the tackle on Manu.”

The bunker deemed the incident worthy of a sin-binning rather than a send-off, much to the dismay of Robinson in his post-match press conference.

On Monday, Annesley reiterated his comments from over the weekend, saying a send-off would have been a more appropriate punishment.

“From (the NRL’s) perspective, we acknowledged virtually immediately that we felt that the bunker didn’t advise the referee to take harsh enough action in that instance,” he said.

“We believe that the bunker should have advised the referee to dismiss the player from the field.

“Based on the evidence that the match officials had upon which to base a decision, we felt that it should have been a harsher call of a dismissal rather than 10 minutes in the sin bin.”

Manu had emergency surgery on a fractured cheekbone over the weekend and will not play again this season. Picture: Chris Hyde / Getty Images

Despite admitting an error was made, Annesley said Perenara would not be sacked from his duties in the bunker.

Perenara, a former NRL player and on-field referee, was stood down from subsequent round 24 games but will be reinstated by the league.

“He accepts that (he made a mistake),” Annesley said.

“It doesn’t make him a bad official because we think he didn’t take strong enough action. It’s just in the heat of the moment he made a wrong call.

“He’ll bounce back. He’s only just recently retired as an on-field referee for health reasons.

“He’ll continue to be a quality official for us in the future.”