I'm not a fan of bagging the match officials. Just as followers of a sport will at times endlessly debate a decision on the field, we realise that people don't all see the same thing. In the UK, an attacking player was sent off for use of the elbow when to me it was a case of recklessness by the defender. I didn't even think it warranted a penalty and this is from some someone who is very hot on player protection.
So the officials make a call and you have to live with it. Well, not in the NRL it seems. In this first round of the finals series, the matches were close with 16 points separating teams in four matches of regular time. Two of the losing coaches went into the press conference fuming and blaming the officials for their losses.
The Manly team was beaten by 12 points to end a rather poor season. They have under performed and yet again didn't play to their potential. They deserved to go, but not accepting that and whining throughout the press conference isn't a good look.
Last year's champions Cronulla haven't played nearly so well in 2017. They took on a travelling opponent without its star player and still couldn't overcome them. The game ended tied so it went into extra time. The specific incidents questioning the official's rulings were to me either good calls or 50-50 ones that were hard to tell what happened. The sin binning for a professional foul was spot in my opinion on but not according to the coach. Barely a penalty he said. Pathetic.
The childish behaviour of the two coaches will be punished and fair enough. Media who are quick to raise contentious issues with disappointed coaches need to be accountable too. In the UK, one person talks to the coach afterward, not a media pack of wolves looking for a controversial comment or three.
Accepting you weren't good enough is the manly thing to do. The games were close and tense, that's what you want. Toughen up and stop the whinging. Wahhhh.
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