@Ref. A couple of things I noticed yesterday which I was wondering if you could tell us about.
When DCE would kick on the last tackle, it was usually Harris putting pressure on him. He’d run at DCE and, at the last moment, turn his back on DCE and not touch him. While the Manly players seemed to always grab Johnson after he had kicked the ball…. not enough to be called a tackle but enough to stop him following the ball. Is that a legal tactic or only if it’s not deemed hard enough to be a tackle?
The other thing I’d notice is where the ref was setting the defensive line during a dominant tackle when the attacker was being pushed back but before the tackle was completed or he called out “Held”. Is the 10m from where the tackle commenced or from where it had been completed because there was time Manly were pushed backwards 4-5m but the ref didn’t allow the Warriors to move forward so there ended up being 14-15m away from the play the ball? Makes me wonder if pushing an attacker backwards is worth it if the refs going to hold the defensive line that far back.
Not a game we deserved to win, but a game we could have won. I was watching where SJ positioned himself before what would have been a FG attempt and saw him point to where he wanted Harris to do one more hit up. I was thinking… take the shot. He didn’t…. Harris took the ball forward and lost it in the tackle.