Souths veteran defends Roosters rival as players reflect on wild semi-final

Roosters enforcer Victor Radley has received support from an unlikely ally, with Souths veteran Tom Burgess calling for Friday’s game to be refereed like Origin.

Hostilities will be renewed at Allianz Stadium, but don’t expect seven sin bins this time around. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

It was the wildest game of footy in decades, but South Sydney enforcer Tom Burgess says the seven sin bins from last year’s finals match could have been avoided if referee Ashley Klein had shown Victor Radley some leniency and treated the game like an Origin encounter.

Radley was marched for 10 inside the opening four minutes for what was something between a shove and the lightest of punches, setting the tone for a derby which devolved from then on.

The tone was set early when Radley was sin binned in the opening minutes, but Burgess says the referee could have handled it differently. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

Radley and Taane Milne were sin binned twice, while hard men Burgess, Jared Waerea-Hargreaves and Tevita Tatola all spent time off the field. There were also several melees throughout the afternoon.

The Roosters also lost James Tedesco and Angus Crichton to head knocks, while Burgess came off for an HIA after copping a head slam from Waerea-Hargreaves.

There was an actual game in between all that, which was won by the Bunnies, but all the focus was on the sin bins and the repercussions, which ultimately derailed both clubs’ premiership aspirations.

“I think it’s one of those things where the game is in a bit of a transition stage; if people had their time again, there wouldn’t be as many sin bins,” Burgess told NCA NewsWire.

“The first one with Victor, I don’t think that was a sin bin. And that’s coming from someone who was playing against him.

“It set that precedent. Once he gave that sin bin, I think it was a case of ‘well that’s worse, so I’ve got to sin bin the next one’.

It was a stop-start game with melees and injuries throughout the contest. Picture: Mark Kolbe / Getty Images

“There has to be a bit of continuity where you let the game flow. You see it in Origin; games between these two teams are very similar in intensity to what we see in Origin.

“Sometimes it does boil over, and the ref has to understand that. Both teams are there and everyone is fair game, so I’d like to see the game flow a bit more.”

Tensions are already mounting ahead of Friday’s rematch at Allianz Stadium, where all eyes and ears will be on whether Roosters fans boo two-time premiership winner Latrell Mitchell after the shocking scenes in Penrith last week.

Burgess will head into the clash on cloud nine after he penned a new deal which will keep him at the club until the end of 2024.

Tom Burgess was one of the players sin binned in last year’s wild finals match. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

The Englishman will move to fourth on South Sydney’s most-capped list when he takes on Tedesco, who was ruled out of that game last year after copping a high shot from Burgess, which ironically didn’t result in a sin bin.

The Roosters had been on top before their skipper came off, but they turned into headless chooks without their best player as their emotions got the better of them.

“It was a weird game,” Tedesco said.

“It was something we didn’t plan for, but it’s something we’ve spoken about. We definitely need to adapt when the game’s not going our way, and that one definitely wasn’t going our way with concussions and sin bins.

The Roosters were on top before a concussed Tedesco was ruled out of the contest. Picture: Matt King / Getty Images

“We got caught up in the emotion and probably tried to go a bit individual when we had to adapt as a team and go after it together, which we didn’t do.

“It was clear with me going down and a few guys getting HIAs and sin bins, we just weren’t connected. We lost our heads a bit.

“There’s not much I could do from the sheds, but we needed our leaders and experienced guys to step in and get us all connected, to get us back on the right path. We didn’t do that.”