Coach cries foul after Goannas sent packing
BY NEIL GOFFET
BEATEN Cessnock coach Todd Edwards said referee Drew Oultram was "out of his depth" after he sent off three Goannas players in yesterday's 36-4 Newcastle Rugby League grand final loss to Wyong at No.1 Sportsground.
The Goannas lost prop Sione Finefeuiaki for a high shot on lock Aaron Wallace in the 51st minute.
Five-eighth Joby Patten and winger Willie Pole'o followed him to the sheds five minutes later when the score was 10-0 to Wyong.
Patten was dismissed for a high tackle and Pole'o for his part in a brawl that was ignited by Patten's tackle, and the crowd of about 7500 roared with rage.
The decisions left Cessnock, who had been bolstered by the addition of Knights player Cooper Vuna after Newcastle's loss to the Bulldogs on Saturday night, to play the last 24 minutes with 10 men.
Wyong hooker Mitch Williams was sent to the sin-bin for his part in the fight but did enough in the other 70 minutes to win the JJ "Mo" Wilson Medal for his man-of-the-match performance.
"The bloke should never have got the job because he's just out of his depth," Edwards said of Oultram.
"The competition is improving and the refereeing is just ridiculous, and they need to look at it.
"We weren't great, don't get me wrong. For the first 50 minutes we struggled and struggled, and Wyong were pretty good in that time.
"But we held them to 10-0 and then we lost Sione and the boys' heads went down. And then the other two got sent off and they only lost one bloke to the sin-bin. It's a joke."
Edwards questioned why 25-year-old Oultram was preferred to experienced referee John Taylor, who officiated in the reserve-grade game.
"The referees' appointments board makes those decisions," NRL chairman Trevor Crow said.
"Maybe that's something we will have to look at in the future."
The controversy overshadowed a scrappy first half highlighted by two tries to Jayson Mackenzie, who played in premiership wins with Lakes United in 2006 and 2007.
Wyong scored three tries while Williams was in the sin-bin, through props Marc Reed and Rowan Kelly and fullback James Arnesen, to lead 28-0.
Winger Josh Mantellato, who was the competition's leading pointscorer this season, scored two tries either side of Cessnock's lone try to winger Chris Pyne.
Skipper Jamie Davis said last week that he never knew No.1 Sportsground existed and saw it for the first time at a media day on Thursday.
"It's awesome. I love the place," Davis laughed.
"I hope we come back here every year and do the same thing. We had a game plan and the two times we played them before we didn't execute it properly. We knew if we could, we'd get away with the win.
"It's the first time we've brought the Tooheys Cup to the Central Coast, which is awesome.
"I can't believe it; it's unreal."
Davis was unlucky not to win man of the match after a stunning display at left centre, while five-eighth Matt Sharp and halfback Mark Miller also made excellent contributions.
Davis would not let the controversy detract from the fact they became the first Central Coast team to win the Newcastle premiership.
"It probably tainted the game a little bit, but I don't think it made any difference to the outcome because I thought we were on top pretty much the whole game," Davis said.
"It doesn't matter; it's ours."
Herald
