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Play the ball speed was just off the NRL website. 3.38 to 3.3. So really not much in it, but given the ruck dominance it was surprising to see it so close. The eye test suggested ours should have been substantially faster.I'm not denying we were bullied, I've been very vocal on that point.
What i don't accept is the notion that the penrith dominance led to the one sided penalty count but that the opposite is true when we were on top.
Our bench, Whyte and Wong in particular, were sensational. Why the whistle went away after the denied try who would know, probably just a case of penrith recovering and solidifying their position.
Also the play the ball speed was essentially the same, not sure where you got your info from. You would then expect the penalty count to be even which it was. If one drilled down in to it I think you would find your speed was superior in the first half and ours in the 2nd.
We see things differently obviously and as much as we try not to will always have some bias, but from the first set you could see we were on and were making meters pretty much at will. You guys had to try and slow it down and the restart penalties were obvious. I will say it shits me when they are all late in the count when there isn't much difference between tackle 1 and 5. At least that stayed consistent when the script flipped.
Your run of calls started after the Professional foul, you had no momentum and it seemed manufactured to stop a blow out. When the restarts came I legit didn't know what they were for. In other games when we have copped them you could see it a lot of the time, Kenny or Leota slowing things down and I'd be screaming at the TV get off you dickheads, it's annoying because most of the time it's unnecessary, but the ref has no choice. I just didn't see that last Friday.
Whyte and Wong were great. Whether that was due to what I saw as a manufactured momentum shift who knows, but they can only play what's in front of them and they did a great job. Spencer was rubbish with the ball and very disappointing, did better defensively than I expected though. He played like he was Matt Eisenhuth.
After the forward pass call the restarts stopped as we agree. No real reason for it though from a rule sense. It's not like either team changed what they were doing all game, it just adds weight that a lot of it is just pure score management.