{"id":806077,"date":"2026-07-17T12:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/806077\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T12:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T12:31:11","slug":"nrl-news-2026-melbourne-storm-hooker-harry-grant-penalised-for-ball-strip-on-sydney-roosters-rake-reece-robson-paul-gallen-phil-gould-blow-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/806077\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Melbourne Storm hooker Harry Grant penalised for ball strip on Sydney Roosters rake Reece Robson; Paul Gallen, Phil Gould blow up"},"content":{"rendered":"

Paul Gallen blew up on Friday night over what he called \u201cthe stupidest rule in rugby league\u201d, after Harry Grant was penalised for a ball strip.<\/p>\n

Early in the Storm\u2019s clash with the Roosters at Allianz Stadium, referee Grant Atkins penalised the Melbourne hooker after he raked the ball off Reece Robson.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Harry Grant argues with Grant Atkins.\u00a0Harry Grant.<\/p>\n

The Roosters hooker took a run from dummy-half and Grant, who was at marker, swiped the ball out of his hands. It was a one-on-one strip but, as the referee explained, Grant hadn\u2019t made a genuine attempt to tackle.<\/p>\n

Dumbfounded, Phil Gould repeatedly asked \u201cwhy?\u201c.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho made up the rule?\u201d the legendary coach said on Nine.<\/p>\n

Gallen unloaded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got no idea [why the rule exists], but that is the stupidest rule in rugby league,\u201d the former Sharks and Blues captain said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost as bad as the stupid short dropout [rule] where if it doesn\u2019t go 10 metres they just get a play-the-ball instead of a penalty.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a guy is running from dummy-half trying to attack the defensive line, you should be allowed to do what you want \u2013 legally.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying at the ball \u2013 who cares? You\u2019re trying to make a tackle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous. He\u2019s running, he [the defender] hits the arm, and he drops the ball. It should be a Melbourne Storm ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Grant argued with the referee, Atkins explained \u201cthe interpretation\u201d with a shake of his head.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul Gallen blew up on Friday night over what he called \u201cthe stupidest rule in rugby league\u201d, after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":806078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-806077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=806077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/806077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/806078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=806077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=806077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=806077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}