Annesley clarifies NRL position over Dragons no try

The NRL's head of football Graham Annesley has confirmed the bunker followed the correct process in denying a controversial try to the St George Illawarra Dragons during their loss to the Manly Sea Eagles on Saturday evening in Wollongong.

Despite bunker official Belinda Sharpe seeming to suggest on two occasions via the on-air audio that the ball had been grounded, the verdict eventually came back as no try, supporting the on-field decision.

Dragons players had been seen celebrating as they listened to the audio and watched the vision on the big screen at WIN Stadium, but the decision of no try left players, commentators, and fans confused.

Annesley though, speaking at Monday's weekly footy briefing, said the policy of the bunker was not to rely on guesswork.

“There was some confusion created with the audio that went to air, and I'm the first to admit that because she talks on two separate occasions in the on-air audio about being able to see the ball on the ground and then being able to see the player over the line,” Annesley said.

“She was trying to determine whether the ball was on the ground before the line or whether it was on the ground over the line, in which case it would have been a try and there would have been sufficient evidence to overturn the on-field decision.

“She couldn't see a particular frame where she could be sure the player in the in-goal area with the ball on the ground before he was held up.

“This is not about officials getting it wrong. This is about officials following policy.

“We can disagree with the policy and believe that the policy is wrong and should be changed, but that's a very different matter to whether the officials have followed the policy and whether they've done anything wrong, which they haven't.”

Annesley confirmed there were no plans for the NRL to scrap the on-field verdict of the referee following the incident, and others this season where insufficient evidence could be viewed to overturn a decision.

“The referees can't walk away from their responsibility of making a decision or having an opinion,” he said.

“As will happen from time to time, video evidence won't be sufficient to clarify the position, so you still have to have an outcome.

“There are only two options – one is that you go with the decision that the referee made on the field, or you get the Bunker to guess… and that would be even more unsatisfactory.”

The decision saw Dragons' interim coach Ryan Carr blow up in his post-match press conference on Saturday evening, suggesting that, and the decision to sin bin Jack de Belin for a hip drop tackle - which he will appear at the judiciary on Tuesday night in pursuit of a downgrade - were both wrong.

“For the no-try, the wording that I was given was he has got the ball down, we just need to figure out if he is over the try line. And the next wording was, Dan Russell is clearly over the try line," Carr said during his post-match press conference.

“That is just contradictory to a no-try. That is a big moment that hurts when you are fighting as hard as you can to get a try.

“If the wording was different like, he hasn't got the ball down or he is not over the try line fair enough, but all the wording added up to it being a try, so I need to figure out why it wasn't given a try.

“De Belin was sin-binned right and the game stopped for nearly two minutes for a guy to get his knee strapped.

“That's not the rule. It is play-on. Either leave the field or play on. And in that moment when they made an error on halfway, we lose not only possession and field position, but we lose a man for 10 in the bin.

“It's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous and I feel so sorry for my players. I feel sorry for the fans, who have to watch the game. I feel sorry for fans of rugby league in general.

“That was a good game of footy out there and a call like that just has a huge baring and impact on the game."

The Dragons lost the game 24 points to 18, with the Sea Eagles in the race for the finals.