The Roosters’ narrow win over the Sea Eagles wasn’t short on controversy and two first half incidents which dearly cost Manly have come under the microscope.
The Daily Telegraph’s Phil Rothfield believes Manly were hard done by when Roosters centre Michael Jennings wasn’t sin binned for a high shot on Jason Saab.
Despite escaping ten minutes in the bin, the NRL match review committee came down hard on Jennings, slapping him with a two-match ban (with an early plea).
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Saab was ruled out for failing a HIA and according to coach Anthony Seibold, was still “crook” in the change rooms following the game.
In a separate incident which happened just a couple of minutes earlier, Manly star Reuben Garrick was also sent from the field for a HIA following an innocuous looking tackle on Roosters winger Daniel Tupou.
Despite Manly’s club doctor making a Judgement that Garrick was right to play on, the independent doctor made a call from the Bunker that the Sea Eagles centre wasn’t able to return.
Garrick’s concussion history may have played a part in the independent doctor’s decision, but in any case, Rothfield believes it, along with the Jennings/Saab decision, were the wrong calls.
The Sea Eagles would only go down by four points despite losing two outside backs in the first half, with Rothfield believing it could easily have been the difference between winning and losing.
“I’m really worked up about this,” Rothfield said on the Big Sports Breakfast radio show.
“I’ll start with the Michael Jennings hit on Saab. He had to leave the field immediately and was still crook in the sheds after the game.
“The Bunker recognised that this was a high tackle, Jennings was penalised and Saab didn’t return. This is wrong.
If you take a player out with a high tackle and is put on report, you should immediately be penalised. You should go straight to the sin bin.
“How does Jennings stay on the field? How do we have these rules.
“And then we go onto the Reuben Garrick case. He (Garrick) insists he was OK.
“Now I don’t usually listen to players regarding their own concussion as they just want to get back out there, but how does a doctor watching on a television screen inside the Bunker, based in Redfern, make the decision that he cannot return to the field of play when there is a club doctor (at the ground) who can provide the full protocols of a head injury assessment?”
Seibold angry over HIA calls | 07:03
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For what it’s worth, a usually mild-mannered Seibold took aim at the officials for these two decisions in his post-match press conference on Saturday night.
“We don’t get any benefit from just getting the penalty. It’s foul play, we lose a player, I thought that would be a sin bin but it wasn’t tonight for whatever reason,” the Manly coach said.
“Reuben Garrick for instance does not believe one bit he was concussed tonight, not one bit,” he added, when referencing the Garrick HIA.
“He couldn’t even believe he was getting taken off the field to get checked.”
Rugby league legend Laurie Daley said he believes the independent doctor sitting in the Bunker should be able to call players off the field to get assessed after a head knock, but unless it’s an obvious case of concussion, the decision to rule a player out of the game should be done by the club doctor at the ground.
Rothfield agreed.
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“Club doctors are under pressure who report to their coaches. This is rubbish. Doctors are doctors, they have their reputation on the line,” Rothfield said.
“The Roosters should have gone back to 12 players.
“Garrick should have come back on if his club doctor said he was sweet.”
“The game is televised and there is so many cameras. If a doctor is willing to do that, well his career is over,” former Australian cricket captain Michael Clarke added.
“If he makes a call based on doing what’s right for the club versus what’s right for the athlete, he’s taking a massive risk.”
Source Agencies
