Completely agree. Don’t wanna sound like a whinger, Blues far too good and deserved winners. But Klein gave the Blues everything for the first 20 and then stopped you blokes from absolutely smashing us in the second half by penalising you guys for rubbing hair ffs.
I think you are right, however the momentum that NSW gained from the get go from their own actions of line speed and aggression was huge. Then, when the opportunity presented, Moses and Luai would use the depth and speed of the backrowers, then the backs to rack up points. It felt like the unstoppable tsunami that hit us in the 2022 GF.
Klein seemingly refereed in favour of the team that had the momentum at the time. That happens of course often, as the team being dominated tries to slow down the ruck etc, however as you say, there were other calls that did not make sense.
Martin, Angus, Murray, Haas and 1 to 6 were elite. Mitch was a level above that.