Sorry but....

Sunday's game between the Bulldogs and the Broncos is one that has many stories to tell. Firstly, the Broncos showed that the Bulldog's are by no means unbackable favourites. If Brisbane converted more of their chances in the first half then the result would have been very different.  And also a few other instances from the first half raised eyebrows and some worrying concerns.  

When Tony Archer decided to penalise Jack Reed for falling into the ruck even though Gavin Badger was yelling that Reed had been pushed by Bulldog Josh Reynolds, you knew Brisbane were in for a tough time for the rest of the game.  What makes it worse for me is the statement from Archer that he couldn't reverse the decision because he had already blown the whistle. This is where I find the refs accountable for controlling the game in a way that is detrimental to the game. If the penalty is given the ref can still change the decision. If as stated by badger that the Bulldog player had interfered with a player returning to the defensive line then he has the ability to penalise that player and could have quit easily reversed the decision. We also see in most games where a player is told to go back to the mark as he was tackled or passed the ball after the call of held is made. If the game can be controlled this way then surely the refs had an out to correct what was a decision that affected the result. Instead we have a situation where the ref has immediately admitted to making a wrong decision, standing by that decision and then thinking it is ok to come out and apologise for that decision at the end of the game. Butvall is ok because it is looking more and more like a Sydney Grand Final which is all the media and NRL want.

All that aside though in the fallout from the game, all credit must be given to Anthony Griffen on how coaches handle such games. Everyone know the ref got it wrong but instead of the standard complaints we see from the likes of Hasler and Toovey, we saw instead a coach who wanted to talk about his team. 

With the way the season is panning out I am picking a final played between Manly and Canterbury and it will come down to whose players get away with the most and the coach that complains the most winning it for their team. That is why I would love to see the NQ Cowboys throw all the predictions out the window.