What a f**king joke. I hope Russell Smith has booked himself into a very good optometrist, because he's clearly blind.
Three monumental f**k-ups from the video ref have cost the Raiders the match, ably assisted by the two stooges in pink on the field.
Puletua's try is no try any day of the week. He has had his momentum stopped with no opportunity to get the ball away. That is the very definition of held. Benefit of the doubt? f**k me!
There was a clear obstruction from Cooper. Whether Herbert would have got there or not simply doesn't come into it, the fact of the matter is that he was denied the opportunity. Clear obstruction, no try and penalty. Try? f**k me!
Josh Dugan never knocked on. He went past the ball which made it look like a knock on, but it clearly wasn't. You look at where his field position when he touches the ball, the immediate movement is backward of that point. Clearly a try, at worst benefit of the doubt (particularly given the farcical usage of this option early in the match). No try? f**k me!
Then there's the ridiculously unwarranted penalties. Campese, square at marker, tackles the dummy half - penalty Penrith for Raiders inside the 10? What? The players penalised didn't get anywhere near to getting involved! Josh Miller has the ball clearly stripped, dunderhead Sutton rules knock-on, Josh rightfully blows up and is penalised for backchat. What? There was far worse said than "bullsh*t" after every decision, yet now you decide to penalise it?
f**king pathetic. This is all because we have the most incompetent fool in the history of the game as referee's boss. Robert Finch is completely to blame for the sorry state of officiating today, which is far far worse than it has ever been. As the man in charge of such incompetence, Robert Finch must do the honorable thing and resign immediately. Get someone who knows what they're doing in there, someone that the Raiders didn't sack, and who knows? We might actually have a game refereed without such blatantly wrong decisions one day.
End result if the refereeing decisions had not been blatantly incorrect: Raiders 18 Panthers 15. Yet another game lost solely due to disgusting refereeing. That takes the count up to 6 this season.
Loved Vidot celebrating his second try of the night with a big f**k you to the officials.
