Seriously guys - why the hell would Burt run the ball dead or kick into touch or whatever, when he knew there was a chargedown so would almost always be six again. He thought he could play the ball, and next tackle - game over. Blaming Burt is pretty ridiculous.
I want to know why Hayne waited so long to kick? Why did Morgan miss Jennings twice in one movement? Why was Casey Maguire so slow in chasing Simmonds when he was headed for the corner in the previous try? Why did Etu come in on Jennings and leave his winger unmarked? Why did Burt watch the kick into the ingoal go right past him (Cootes first try) ? This stuff happens.
We had plenty of chances but it wasnt meant to be.
(1) if he runs it dead it is guaranteed game over.
(2) the referee decides who gets 6 again, not Luke Burt. Ref was screaming STILL LAST TACKLE - Up to Burt to do something with that isn't it?
(3) even with what went on, there was no need for Burt to play 'I'm taking the ball and going home' - if he'd just given it to the Panthers, time would've expired before they could play it.
(4) if he'd got up and played the ball instead of getting rid of it, time would've expired
(5) if he'd been "injured" in the tackle time would've probably expired...
Sure, PLENTY of other things could've gone our way, plenty of other dumb things we did - but for a veteran to play out the last 10seconds of regulation time the way he did is worthy of copping a bit of blame/ abuse isn't it?
You need your 10 year players to make the 'smart' plays when it comes to the minute stuff, we had the game in the bag had he taken any number of sensible options, but he took just about the only option that could've seen the Panthers given 1 last roll of the dice....
