On Sunday afternoon, we may have witnessed the death of rugby league as it was supposed to be played.
That may be a dramatic, over the top statement, but diving has never had a place in rugby league, and nor should it ever.
Unfortunately, it's an epidemic which is creeping into the game more and more. Milking penalties, diving for obstructions, and ensuring Academy Award-winning performances have the ability to influence games are clearly things which are being coached.
Now, full disclosure, I'm a Dragons fan, but what I'm about to say comes from a place of wanting rugby league to be the sport without diving, not from a "we were robbed" point of view. I maintain the Dragons lost Sunday's game because of their own awful performance, no matter how poor the performance of the match officials.
But when Kyle Flanagan is hit by the most obvious obstruction of the season, only to not take a dive and move across to make a last-ditch tackle on Haumole Olakau'atu, the result should have been the same whether he took a dive or not.
That being, a penalty for the obstruction of a defender, opening a gap for the attacker to run through and score.
Anyway, for whatever reason, Chris Butler in the bunker elected to ignore the obstruction and award Manly the try.
Maybe he thought the obstruction didn't actually impede Flanagan because he made it to lay a hand on Olakau'atu in the act of scoring. That is the only potential reason I've been able to come up with after reviewing the incident over and over again.
Unfortunately, we will never know what his father and Dragons' head coach Shane Flanagan thought with no questions asked at the post-match press conference.
The issue with the decision of course is Flanagan feels ripped off, the Dragons and their fans feel the same way, and later in the same match when the chance for a dive arises, Flanagan ensured he took one.
Hit by one of the softest high shots of the century - funnily enough by the same man he attempted to tackle in the try earlier - he stayed down.
It was a clear ploy for a penalty, and after Butler in the bunker took a look at it, he decided a penalty needed to be awarded.
And yes, it probably was a penalty in the modern game, but it was so, so soft. Flanagan staying down ended up getting him sent for a head injury assessment, but with the Dragons backed up against their own line, the penalty at that stage of the game meant more than anything else.
If Flanagan had of stood up and played the ball, a second thought wouldn't have been given to the tackle and everyone would have moved on with life.
But the issue with the constrating decisions in yesterday's game - a dive awarding a penalty against an actual effort to not dive not being awarded a penalty and conceding a try will see every coach continue to coach their players to dive. To ensure they gain every advantage out of the technology used to officiate the modern game, and that is wrong.
That is simply not how rugby league is supposed to be played, and yet, Sunday's incidents will only drive it further in that direction.
It's not just yesterday either. There are examples right through the season of diving being awarded, and it's high time for the NRL to stamp it out across multiple facets.
It's not just on-field decisions either. We seemingly see the match review committee influenced by injuries sustained on a weekly basis, with the consistency of charges against players virtually non-existent.
Rugby league fans look at soccer's diving and have no problems calling it out, but the NRL is fast becoming no better than its round ball cousin.
That is as negative as it could get for a sport which is supposed to be far tougher.
It's up to the officials, NRL and clubs though to stop with the rubbish and play the game honestly.
Based on Sunday though, the Academy Awards may await for plenty of players.
