Elliott ... 'The refs will have to put their hands up for making errors' Source: Gregg Porteous / News Limited
Warriors coach Matthew Elliott said his side was dudded after a missed forward pass and an overturned 40-20 call conspired in his team's 28-18 loss to Melbourne Storm.
5 Tries 3 | |
|---|---|
| Will Chambers 11' | Ben Henry 7' |
| Mahe Fonua 30' | Bill Tupou 40' |
| Sisa Waqa 58' | Shaun Johnson 52' |
| Will Chambers 72' | |
| Billy Slater 76' | |
4 Conversions2 | |
| Cameron Smith 13' | Shaun Johnson 9' |
| Cameron Smith 59' | Shaun Johnson 54' |
| Cameron Smith 74' | |
| Cameron Smith 77' | |
0 Penalties1 | |
| Shaun Johnson 67' | |
But both Storm coach Craig Bellamy and his skipper Cameron Smith weren't buying into Elliott's complaint, if only because Melbourne scored twice in the final 10 minutes to seal a remarkable win.
Elliott didn't worry about being subtle in suggesting consecutive weeks of bad calls late in games against his team were no accident, having also suffered from mistakes later acknowledged by the referees in their last loss to Canberra.
He said a pass from Storm winger Sisa Waqa that allowed Will Chambers to score the go-ahead try was blatantly forward, and the overturning of a 40-20 by a video review was a first.
"The refs will have to put their hands up for making errors. From where I was sitting it was not a little bit forward, it was a long way forward,'' Elliott said.
"And I have seen the 40-20 ruling made from the kicker being in front of the line, but I haven't seen it made where the ball went out.
"They moved where the touch judge signalled it. That's a first from me.''
Bellamy conceded the pass "could have been'' forward but wasn't the first or last call to be missed.
"They are things for referees to decide and they have to decide on the spot. There's always decisions which could go either way,'' Bellamy said.
"It could have been, it looked a bit doubtful I must say. But Billy scored at the end, too.''
And Smith suggested the Warriors' decision to take two points from a penalty rather than attack Storm with 12 minutes to go, which Elliott said he backed, helped Melbourne's cause no end.
"That shows a lot of respect to our defensive line, especially from where he was. That was a great kick to convert that,'' Smith said.
"We've always gone for putting pressure on, when you have a team on the back foot.
"Thankfully in the end they took the two, if that had been six it might have been a little bit harder to peg them back.''
Bellamy gave his troops an almighty spray at half-time for going away from the game plan and for not being willing to "get our hands dirty'', and praised their second-half efforts to rescue the win.
"I thought our first half ... we were probably looking for some easy options rather than sticking to what we know works for us,'' Bellamy said.
"We weren't willing to get our hands dirty. In the second half we were, and that was the difference."
