While that was a weak penalty they did touch the ball at least, it wasn't a cold drop (watch the reply). And not like you didn't get some back... I'm not saying the refs would have made it a totally different game, I'm just still pissed we have a professional comp with refs which wouldn't get an under 12 games in any other code...
Was anybody else as frustrated as I was with the offside penalty against Vidot?
The Raiders player (Joel Thompson?) went for a tackle, the Dragons player dropped the ball, and the tackler may or may not have had a hand in it -- and even if he did, it's not obvious that he was playing at the ball. Vidot picks up the ball and races away to score. After the usual 26 video replays the try is disallowed and the Dragons receive a penalty and find themselves with perfect field position.
Thank God the Raiders held them out on that set of six, but if not it would have been a 12 point turnaround and more than likely the Dragons would have gone on and won the match.
I know that technically Vidot was offside and should have been penalized. But he didn't know he was offside -- he probably legitimately thought the Dragons player had dropped it -- and not even the referees knew either!! (They had to look at the replays, and even then the decision could have gone either way).
So what is Vidot expected to do in that situation? Stand back and look at the ball on the off chance that his teammate touched it until the ref tells him "it's ok, you can pick it up?"
In that situation, when it's such a lineball decision and the team has not deliberately broken the rules anyway, instead of calling a penalty and potentially changing the entire outcome of the match why can't the referees
apply a bit of discretion and just call a knock-on against Canberra instead of a penalty?
I love watching rugby league, but unfortunately the modern game has become too dependent on penalties. In close games, it's no longer about who can run, pass, kick, and tackle the best. It's now about who gets the most number of penalties from these 50-50 calls.