Penrith great Greg Alexander was left fuming at a penalty call made by the Bunker as a “stupid rule” almost saw Cowboys gun Braidon Burns sent for some time in the sin bin.
Melbourne were looking to extend their lead in the first half of their 28-24 loss on Saturday when Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown leapt over Braidon Burns in the corner in hopes to collect a Jahrome Hughes kick.
Brown was left to catch the ball in the air by Burns, who wrapped his arms around the Storm winger as he fell to the turf and offloaded to a nearby Tyran Wishart. Burns did, however, pull his hands away from his rival when realising what he was doing.
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Wishart was quickly brought down by Cowboys defenders in what many expected would be the end of the set, but referee Gerard Sutton wanted a review of Brown’s leap.
“Just confirm that we don’t have a penalty try and whether we do have a mid-air tackle here that denies him a scoring opportunity,” Sutton asked Bunker official Chris Butler.
Storm winger Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown is tackled in the air by Braidon Burns. Fox League
Butler then declared that Burns completed “a tackling motion while Brown was in the air”, a decision which prompted a fiery response from Alexander.
“Oh no. What? No, no,” Alexander said in commentary on Fox League.
As the review went on, it seemed as though Burns may be heading to the sin bin.
But Butler eventually ruled out a professional foul or penalty try being awarded to the Melbourne Storm as the foul happened within the field of play.
“This is the greatest example of why you shouldn’t be a rule … that is how stupid the rule is,” Alexander continued.
“He touched him, there is no doubt that he touched him”
Alexander stopped to listen to Tom Dearden, who was unhappy with the penalty ruling.
“What do you want him to do? Stand back?” Dearden was heard telling Sutton.
Tom Dearden argues with referee Gerard Sutton about a Bunker call. Fox League
Alexander finished: “Tom’s explanation was perfect.”
Off the back of the penalty, Melbourne found a chance to strike via Sua Fa’alogo.
“They get the penalty and it is brilliant … seamless, balanced, beautiful running by (Fa’alogo),” the Penrith champion called.
“He never disappoints, does he? The fullback has become a superstar of the game.”
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The incident came after what had been a nightmare start to the match for the visitors, with Faalogo getting the game underway by booting the ball into touch off the kick off.
A series of mishaps by Melbourne’s defence only made that opportunity greater for the Cowboys, who looked threatening each time they neared the tryline.
But Jake Clifford was the first to get over the line for the homeside, leaping over two defenders to collect a Scott Drinkwater bomb and open the scoring for the match.
Will Warbrick did not let Clifford soak up the glory of his high-flying try for long, producing an impressive replica of his rival’s act to put the Storm on the board.
Braidon Burns celebrates after scoring a try. Getty
The “uncharacteristic errors” by the Storm only piled on pressure for their defence, with another kick off related mistake opening the gate for Burns to pounce.
“So they’ve started the game with a kick out on the full and now they’ve scored and let the ball go dead,” Alexander said in disbelief.
“This is a bit like the Cowboys winning the meat raffle twice,” Andrew Voss added.
Alexander continued: “No one was going to stop Braidon Burns.”
Clifford and Warbrick traded tries for the second time in the match, however, the Cowboys gun did not get his efforts approved by the referee due to an offside call which sealed the scores at 16-10 at half time.
Both sides managed to add points to the board in the second half, with Warbrick bringing his try total to four for the evening.
But a late try-scoring blitz for the Cowboys turned the game on its head as the host team levelled the scores with eight minutes left on the clock.
Burns finished off the job to get his side to victory in the 75th minute, sealing the result in favour of the Cowboys 28-24.