‘Can’t believe it’: Dragons dudded in ‘calamity’ as touch judge gives ref ‘wrong’ call

While an injury to halfback Nathan Cleary was the biggest talking point of the night, there was plenty of drama on Sunday at BlueBet Stadium early in the second half.

Fill-in playmaker Jack Cogger had put a kick in on the last play only for winger Mathew Feagai to drop the ball, with Tyrell Sloan on the spot to pick up the scraps.

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The ball appeared to go backwards and referee Chris Sutton signalled as much, calling it a knock back initially before changing his call as Sloan beat an attempted tackle from Cogger with space in front of him.

Sloan though had initially hesitated after the ball was touched by Feagai, which potentially gave the match officials the impression that he thought it was a knock-on.

“I saw the referee call knocked back three times and push his hands backwards and he had a really good view of it live on the field. he made the call and suddenly it got changed,” Dragons coach Ryan Carr said.

“It’s a huge moment in the game, they scored off that set and Sloany coincidentally made a linebreak off it.

“We tried to challenge it and got told it was too late. It was a big moment, I’m disappointed the call got changed.

“I need to get some clarification on why all of a sudden, the person on the field with the best view of the play, changes his call.

“I dunno if it was a 50:50 (call), I think it was a hundred to nothing because it got called back.”

Captain Ben Hunt went on to answer the question everyone was asking after the incident: Why didn’t the Dragons challenge the call?

“I was down field a bit and by the time I got down there to try and challenge it he said it was too late,” Hunt said.

“I didn’t get a real good view of it to be honest but everyone was telling me it was a knock back.”

The Fox League commentary team was stunned by the call.

“He knocked it backwards,” Warren Smith said.

“Sloan thought it was a knock-on and had given up on the play. He’s away and now the referee says it was knocked on. What is going on? The touch judge [Wyatt Raymond] is wrong.

“The touch goes backwards, backwards for your life. Why aren’t the Dragons challenging?”

“And why didn’t Sloan just play to the whistle?” replied Shane Flanagan.

“I agree with you it’s definitely knocked back. The Dragons give themselves up with Sloan not attacking.”

“I think if Sloan plays on, the referee certainly was happy to play on but the touch judge has given him the bum steer of bum steers,” added Smith.

“I can’t believe what we just saw. A calamity for the Dragons and one they should have avoided.”

It ended up being an even bigger call as Penrith scored off the next set, with Izack Tago putting through a kick for winger Sunia Turuva.

“The referee in the first instance though it was a knock back and must have got a call from his touch judge that it was a knock-on,” Smith said.

“He touched it 12 metres out from the line. The ball hit the ground inside the 10-metre line. The referee correctly called knock back and then second-guessed himself.

“Surely it has to be only on the advice of the sideline official. I can’t believe that call.”

Originally published as ‘Can’t believe it’: Dragons dudded in ‘calamity’ as touch judge gives ref ‘wrong’ call