{"id":873210,"date":"2026-08-29T23:56:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-29T23:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873210\/"},"modified":"2026-08-29T23:56:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-29T23:56:26","slug":"nrl-news-2026-benji-marshall-press-conference-wests-tigers-vs-cowboys-refereeing-criticism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/873210\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Benji Marshall press conference; Wests Tigers vs Cowboys; refereeing criticism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Benji Marshall<\/a> walked into his post-match press conference with a purpose. <\/p>\n

After the Tigers lost 24-10 to the Cowboys<\/a>, the coach was given the simple question straight up around his thoughts and first praised the effort of his side.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Benji Marshall and Api Koroisau.\u00a0NRL<\/p>\n

Then, unprompted, he went straight for the officiating. <\/p>\n

\u201cI actually feel very sorry for them (his players) because the standard and level of some of the refereeing decisions today were outrageous,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we copped the raw end of the stick all night.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Tigers were on the wrong end of multiple 50\/50 calls throughout the match, which started when Jarome Luai<\/a> ran 90 metres to no avail. <\/p>\n

That no try came after Api Koroisau was judged to have played at the ball when tackling Cowboys<\/a> prop Thomas Mikaele who was close to the line. Mikaele dropped it and then Luai ran the field, only for it to be called a penalty. <\/p>\n

With 22 minutes left in the match, another controversial call came when Jeral Skelton was penalised for being a disruptor in an aerial contest with Ethan King. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to bump and then compete,\u201d referee Grant Atkins said. <\/p>\n

Then the Cowboys went down the other end and scored after Scott Drinkwater\u2019s kick hit the post and found Jaxon Purdue close to the line. <\/p>\n

Multiple Cowboys and Tigers players had competed for the kick behind the post with Jeramiah Nanai taking out Jock Madden. <\/p>\n

Billy Slater was sold it was a try but Brad Fittler said \u201cno way\u201d and that Madden had been taken out. <\/p>\n

\u201c30 seconds prior, they hammered the Tigers for the same thing,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Another contentious call was when Terrell May had a try ruled out because of Scott Drinkwater being obstructed. <\/p>\n

Slater disagreed with the call and said Drinkwater \u201cwas never getting anywhere near Terrell May\u201d. <\/p>\n

Marshall\u2019s frustration came from all those calls. <\/p>\n

\u201cApi gets penalised when Jarome runs away and scores, for playing at Thomas Mikaele\u2019s arm. What\u2019s he supposed to do?,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fonua Pole takes out Scott Drinkwater.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s going to go and score if he doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of the game, we go and contest the ball and get penalised for contesting. They go down, take Jock Madden out, same thing, we get no penalty and they score. That\u2019s just a couple of things that actually happened out there, and I just feel sorry for the players because we\u2019re fighting so hard to try and get the result.<\/p>\n

\u201cTake nothing away from the Cowboys, they earned their victory and got it, but I feel like I need to stand up for my players because the way they\u2019re fighting, it\u2019s just not right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marshall then referenced the May no try too. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe (Fonua Pole) runs a lead inside the four man on the guy inside Heilum Luki, who makes a defensive decision to come in, and Terrell goes outside him and the obstruction\u2019s for the guy inside. Anyone who knows footy knows that\u2019s a try and then it\u2019s 20-16 with however long to go and we\u2019re fighting back in it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt just felt like that all night. I had my rant, I just don\u2019t think it\u2019s right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Koroisau, who was sitting next to Marshall, had constantly been in Atkins\u2019 ear all night around the perceived inconsistencies. <\/p>\n

The Tigers coach backed his captain for the actions he took and then suggested the decisions were an implication of where his side is on the ladder. <\/p>\n

\u201cFrom our point of view, when you\u2019re at this part of the table that\u2019s probably what happens but (that) doesn\u2019t make it right,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll be sending in a few questions and asking for a please explain, but that\u2019s irrelevant.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I am proud of is that the guys, no matter what, kept fighting for the whole night and showed spirit given there\u2019s not actually anything to play for.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benji Marshall walked into his post-match press conference with a purpose. After the Tigers lost 24-10 to the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":873211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-873210","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\/873210","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=873210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/873210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/873211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=873210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=873210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=873210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}