South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has taken aim at the officials over a missed error at the play the ball that led to a crucial try for Manly who kicked clear to win 28-14 to celebrate Kieran Foran’s new deal to coach the side for the next three years.
The game was in the balance at 10-8 when Manly’s fill-in fullback Clayton Faulalo sliced through to extend the lead just moments after he suffered a low-grade hamstring strain that isn’t expected to keep him sidelined for long.
But replays showed edge forward Ben Trbojevic bobbled the ball as he tried to play it, with the Steeden appearing to stick to his hand.
Referee Adam Gee missed it and the bunker didn’t have the power to rule on it.
“He didn’t play the ball properly, did he? It’s as simple as that, they pay all this money for the bunker and we still don’t get it right,” Bennett said.
“We weren’t playing well, so I’m not going to use that as an excuse. But the bottom line is that’s what they’re there for.
“They play the ball, they’ve got to go back to the play the ball because a try was scored and that was all in the one movement. And if that’s an acceptable play the ball, then the game is going to change enormously really quickly.
“It’s gone now, I can’t bring it back, so I’m not going to carry on about it. The game will have an excuse for it, so you’ve just got to live with it.”
Bennett said that bunker officials should take as long as they need to get decisions right, otherwise there’s no point investing millions of dollars into the decision review system.
“We’ve got a bunker, it’s supposed to be perfect because they expect us to be perfect,” he said.
“They have all the opportunity to make a decision and to see it. And they still get it wrong.
“I’m a fan of no bunker, I can tell you. I’d rather just the game played on with life and accept it like we always accepted it.
“Because they don’t get it right all the time, and they should, because they’ve got the benefit of hindsight, and there’s no time limit on their decision making.”
Thursday’s loss was their third in a row, with Bennett frustrated with their high error count which meant their vaunted attack never got going.
“We’re not anywhere near where we should be, and we’re well into the season,” he said.
“We should be playing some good football and we’ve gone backwards, we’re not going forward at the moment. Our performances are going backwards.”
Manly’s win was their eighth from 10 games under Foran and saw them move back into the top four ahead of next week’s bye.
It capped a huge week for the club legend who signed a new deal, had the stadium renamed Foz Pines Park for the night and even had his face superimposed on Colonel Sanders at a local KFC.
“On the way here, everywhere I drove had ‘Fozball’, ‘Foz Pines’, Kieran Foran Chicken, so I’m like, ‘geez, we better play good,” said Manly skipper Jake Trbojevic.
“There was a lot going on but it was a really good performance.”
Originally published as ‘I’m a fan of no bunker’: Wayne Bennett fumes at crucial missed call as his Rabbitohs fall to third loss in a row