The Bunker has once again become a hotly discussed topic in the NRL after the Dogs and Storm had to endure a long delay before Josh Curran was awarded a try in Melbourne.
Curran’s try halfway through the second half put the Bulldogs in the lead at 24-22 in what was a pivotal moment as they finished 36-22 winners.
Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown and Jethro Rinakama fight for the ball in the kick contest. Nine
The victory to the Dogs ends Melbourne’s hopes of playing finals. This will be the second time Craig Bellamy has missed September action, with other time coming after points were stripped following the 2010 salary cap scandal.
The try for Curran came when winger Jethro Rinakama couldn’t claim a clean catch off a kick, but the ball went backwards to Matt Burton who passed to Curran on the wing.
Referee Gerard Sutton awarded it a try before the Bunker started to investigate if the ball hit Storm winger Siulagi Tuimalatu-Brown’s hands after Rinakama’s touch.
Replays continued to show on Nine’s coverage as Andrew Johns grew agitated.
“It hits his forearm and goes back, I don’t think it hits the Melbourne Storm player at all,” he said.
“It (the process) drives me crazy.”
After over three minutes the try was eventually confirmed as Johns’ frustration continued.
“There has to be a conversation of how we use the Bunker. What was it? Three minutes and 10 seconds?,” he said.
“In rugby league we like to put down other sports for being stop, start, stop, start. The game flows, the game isn’t flowing. Anyway.”
Stephen Crichton kicked the conversion to make it 26-22 which led to the Bulldogs closing out the result.
Crichton finished the match by scoring a double as the Bulldogs pushed into the top eight.
Stephen Crichton. Getty Images
Melbourne were already under pressure before kick off with Jahrome Hughes out due to injury. Stars Cameron Munster and Harry Grant were out too.
The Storm looked good at the start, opening the scoring through Moses Leo and at half-time the score was 16-16.
Angus Hinchey put Melbourne in the lead after the break before Burton hit back and the Dogs went on a tryscoring streak.
Crichton, playing at five-eighth, was awarded player of the match.