Was Sandow hit a shoulder charge?

Cold shoulder ... Chris Sandow will have no case to answer for this. Source: Adam Taylor / News Limited

Bill Harrigan might have lost his job as referees boss.

3 Tries 4
Matthew Ryan 13'	Josh Jackson 5'
Cheyse Blair 17'	Mitch Brown 8'
Cheyse Blair 38'	Josh Reynolds 21'
	Sam Perrett 30'
2 Conversions 2
Chris Sandow 14'	Krisnan Inu 7'
Chris Sandow 40'	Krisnan Inu 23'

But he certainly hasn't lost the knack of seeing things that few in rugby league can.

A case in point on Thursday night was a possible shoulder charge that Harrigan claimed, in his latest incarnation as Triple M's expert commentator, should have cost Parramatta a legitimate try.

With just two minutes left before half-time, Eels halfback Chris Sandow dislodged the ball from Josh Morris with a solid shot just a few metres from Canterbury's line.

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Was it a shoulder charge? Watch the video at the top of the page and let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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Cheyse Blair collected the scraps to score. It was a simple case of tough and aggressive defence being rewarded with the ultimate prize.

Yet Harrigan - as he so often does - saw it differently.

Perhaps he was trying to emulate flamboyant colleague Mark Geyer and provoke debate with a contrary view that few could possible share.

Despite compelling evidence that suggested otherwise, Harrigan concluded Sandow's challenge was a shoulder charge. The fact Sandow wrapped his left arm around Morris as he made initial contact was ignored.

Eels coach Ricky Stuart praised for the referees for not calling a shoulder charge.

"If that was classified as a shoulder charge, we may as well go and get some of those tags and put them outside our shorts and play Oztag,'' Stuart said.

Sandow said he wasn't as confident as he waited to see if the try was awarded.

"I got him with my shoulder but wrapped him up at the same time and the ball came loose,'' he said.

"I was kind of s---ting myself at that moment.''

But Harrigan sees things others can't.

The man they call Hollywood has now become rugby league's version of box office blockbuster The Sixth Sense.

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Relive the action and nailbiting finish with our NRL Match Centre, featuring all the important stats and play-by-play commentary.

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First he saw Greg Inglis score a legitimate try from a knock-on in Origin I. Then he saw Justin Hodges do likewise from a shepherd in Origin III. Now he sees shoulder charges when they're not there, even under the game's draconian new laws.

The lone saving grace is that Harrigan was sitting in a broadcast box last night. Had it been the other way around, there would have been headlines dramatic enough to give Stephen Danks and The Gazelle a run for their money.

Thankfully, the new regime avoided that fate with the correct ruling. But a blow-up is inevitable because the shoulder charge ban invites differences of interpretation. The NRL's definition simply can't cater for every possible scenario that unfolds this season.

That's the price of black and white policies.

The tackle that saw Parramatta's Darcy Lussick placed on report earlier in the first half was another example.

Running a crouched position, Dale Finucane was knocked senseless after his head struck the tackler's shoulder.

But Lussick did nothing worse than brace himself to effect a classic front-on tackle.

He now faces suspension for employing impeccable technique because the duty to avoid head contact falls entirely on the defender's shoulders.

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