Wayne Bennett hits out as NRL admits knock-on cost Dolphins in golden-point loss to Raiders

Wayne Bennett has lashed out at the NRL after the Dolphins were robbed of a golden-point victory by and error that could easily have been avoided.

Wayne Bennett and the Dolphins.

An “angry” Wayne Bennett has blasted the NRL after another golden-point debacle.

It comes after the governing body conceded on Monday that the Dolphins were robbed of a crucial call during their golden-point loss to the Canberra Raiders.

The incident occurred in the lead up to Jamal Fogarty’s matchwinning field goal, with the NRL admitting the Raiders should not have been in the position to kick the goal after an incorrect ball strip decision went against Ray Stone.

NRL head of football Graham Annesley said the referee’s view was obscured by Stone in making the tackle, and that the touch judge had made the call, however he “missed the initial fumble by (Canberra’s) Hudson Young”.

It was one of two crucial calls that went against the Dolphins, after the NRL also conceded Canberra should have had a player sin-binned late in regular time.

“I am angry about it … it is not good enough,” Bennett fired.

The veteran coach is furious that the NRL does not allow the bunker to go back and correct obvious bad decisions during golden point. However, it will allow the bunker to go back and take action for illegal play like hip-drop tackles at any stage.

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett Picture: Mark Nolan/Getty Images

“Under existing policy, the only time we can go back and have the bunker intervene in play is for an act of foul play that is a reportable offence,” Annesley said.

In this instance play did stop after the set restart was awarded to the Raiders, when Stone was replaced for a head injury assessment.

But even though it was clear Young had dropped the ball before he was tackled, the current guidelines prevented the bunker from acting on the mistake.

“I am angry because the game has got to do better,’ Bennett said.

“As I said, we all live within the 80 minutes (of regular time). But if you are going to go into golden point, there is so much riding on it, the competition is so close, and we are not the only team that is going to be impacted by this.

“But it is not good enough. I don’t believe it is good enough.

“If we have no technology in the game, we live with it.

“But we have got all this technology now and when it suits the NRL they use it, and when it doesn’t suit them they want to walk away from it.

“And there is a classic example of it.

“The hip-drop tackles at the moment are not the flavour of the month, and nor should they.

“But the point is they will stop the game, go back and give the penalty and correct what they missed.”

But you’re in golden point, everybody has given everything they have got, both teams, and you get a moment like that where the referee has made a mistake and it is not to be corrected.

“We have just got to live with it.

“They shouldn’t have even been in that field position, that’s my point.

“They should have had no opportunity to kick the field goal.”

There was talk during the match coverage that the Raiders could not have appealed the decision anyway because they had already lost their captain’s challenge.

But he pointed out that would not have mattered because the play wasn’t stopped until a couple of tackles later, even though Dolphins skipper Jesse Bromwich questioned the call.

“The challenge is not the issue here because it was two tackles later they stopped the game,” he added.

“But at no stage did they use any initiative to say ‘hey mate, you got that wrong, it should be Dolphins ball’.

“But if it is a hip drop tackle (Bennett laughed) they would have taken action.”

It’s no secret Bennett has hated golden point even since it was introduced, and this certainly hasn’t improved his position on it.

The ref missed a knock on from Canberra's Hudson Young. Picture: Fox League

“They brought golden point into the game but they won’t own it because it just puts so much pressure on everybody,” Bennett said.

“I walked away from there last weekend happy with one point because we deserved a point, they deserved a point, Canberra.

“I have always wanted the golden point scrapped. That hasn’t changed.”

In explaining the incorrect decision, Annesley said “I can understand how difficult this would have been in live play for the officials to pick up but the fact is they did miss it.”

“As Hudson Young goes to take the ball, his fingers touch the ball, he loses the ball, it comes off the upper arm of Stone (Ray) which forces the ball backwards.”

“This call was made by the touch judge. He just saw the ball propelled backwards, towards the Raiders’ own goal line from the Dolphins and felt that the ball had been knocked down by the Dolphins. However, missed the initial fumble by Hudson Young.”

“It should have been a knock on by Hudson Young.

“As unfortunate as that is, there is nothing we can do to change the outcome of the game, these things happen in games. Everyone is out there trying to make decisions and make them as correctly as possible.

“And unfortunately, this one happened at an inopportune moment that impacted the outcome of the game.”

Originally published as Wayne Bennett hits out as NRL admits knock-on cost Dolphins in golden-point loss to Raiders