If you ever saw the try he disallowed Boyd Cordner against Parramatta earlier in the season, you would know he is either incompetent or a cheat.
He is not cheating. He is however the very worst ex player to ever decide an obstruction rule. He denied parra a try for an obstruction during the season where the player caught on the outside not the inside so that's not his problem.
The overall litmus test for an obstruction is did the play restrict the defender in any way from making a play at the runner.
The manly players didn't ever look at Gower, he might as well been invisible.
The only reason they missed sandow was because Foran slipped over. If the play occurred 60 metres downfield , it wouldn't have been an issue.
I just don't think Patten has the ability to make an objective analysis of the play to the required standard.
The ex player was specifically placed in the vid ref position to make a call as an ex player - ie yes the letter of law says this but as an ex player what is your feel for the try. This is specifically why, the ex player makes the call on obstructions. It's not the NRLSs fault, the policy is a good idea in theory but unfortunately in Patten , they just don't have someone who truly understands the rule.
Now to top this off, when you have respected analysers of the game like sterlo, joey and gus ( no matter what you think of them personally) all agreeing that it was a try......I think we can see where the problem lies.
If you look at 90% of the obstruction howlers this year, Luke Pattens hands are all over them.
Time for some urgent retraining.
