The referee was a joke:
-Penrith ruled forward pass for what would have been a certain try. Went backward.
-Manly got six again for f**king up, and we didn't touch the ball at all. Lead staight to a try.
That's a 10 point turn around so far. Maybe 12 points had Gordon converted.
Manly get a string of penalties leading to them scoring another 2 tries to lead us 22-0. Panthers never getting a touch of the ball, and when we do we get some bullsh*t call against us. We get a lucky try to make it 22-6 at halftime. When it really should have been a close game.
Second half... Michael Gordon scores a try. No video referee even called. We miss out on 4 points, potentially 6 had he scored. It didn't look like a try in realtime, but in the replay you saw him clearly ground it before the line. A video referee would have definitely awarded it.
Masada Iosefa penalised for colliding with a Manly player chasing the ball. In slow motion it looked like a penalty, but in real time Masada was simply running faster then the player infront of him and bumped into him. He didn't intentionally push him.
Brett Stewart intentionally knocked the ball over a Panthers players head. Not sure whether it's a knock-on or a penalty. But instead the referee awards a try anyway.
There were so many dodgy calls, the Panthers never had a chance to make the game as good as it should have been. Based on whap happened, Manly were the better team. But they had so many dodgy calls got heir way to give them a massive points lead.
gordon hit the line with the ball, no try. it would have been confirmed by the video ref, and then you'd blame him.
yes, stewart intentionally knocked it over his head and should have been no try, that was unlucky but not game deciding.
if masada was running too fast and just bumped into him why did his hands raise before he "overran" the manly player and bumped him? because he pushed him, nothing much in it, but his hands clearly come up and push him
that pass was definitely not forward, very unlucky, however, it was hardly a guaranteed try like you said it was.
out of those 4 incidents its 2-2, 2 right and 2 wrong IMO. you mention a string of penaltys in manyls favour but not incidents so I cant talk about those, but in saying that I do agree the ref had a bearing on the game and in manlys favour but if penrith were good enough they might not have conceeded a try every time manly walked into their 20 in the first half, . manly were the better team even without the refs help.