Roosters coach Trent Robinson has taken aim at the NRL Bunker, claiming the decisions being made by the review official “haven’t been good enough”.
The Tricolours went down 18-12 to the Storm on home soil, with one try in particular stunning both Robinson and skipper James Tedesco.
During Fox League’s coverage, Robinson was spotted blowing up after Melbourne back rower Eliesa Katoa was helped across the line by teammate Nelson Asofa-Solomona.
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Speaking in the post-match press conference, Robinson was asked what he thought of the Bunker ignoring Asofa-Solomona’s pile-driver and he didn’t hold back.
“It’s really clear. The rules are really clear,” he said.
“The rules came out at the end of the year and if you lend weight to a tackler in stationary or forward momentum, then it’ll either be stopped or if it’s in a try scoring situation, it’ll be a penalty.
“It’s really simple. He runs in, he lends weight, touches his player and (Michael) Jennings. Did he lend weight to the play? Yes he did. It’s not that hard. It was really clear.”
Robinson also pointed to Xavier Coates’ matchwinning try, claiming a disrupter stopped two of his players from contesting the kick.
“Same with the (Coates) try at the end. We just had 7-8 minutes from Graham Annesley on disrupters and kick contests,” Robinson said.
“Connor Watson was looking at the ball standing in a position. He didn’t move, he didn’t escort, he just stood in a position.
“Reimis (Smith) can go for the ball, that’s fine, but he goes over the back and pushes Joey Manu in the back because he lost balance.
“But you can’t contact our player without going for the contest. That’s a disrupter. It’s really clear.
“There’s been too many of those decisions. I’ve had three or four decisions from Round 2 onwards, back to a try against Teddy on a disrupter, when they went over the top and scoring on top of him.
“It hasn’t been good enough. It was really simple these decisions tonight.”
Tedesco also was clearly unimpressed with the Bunker’s decisions and pointed to Annesley’s Monday afternoon press conference where he reviews the weekend’s decisions.
“We’ve had plenty of these from Round 2 where they’ll come back on Monday and say it shouldn’t have been a try,” he said.
“He (Ashley Klein) said he didn’t effect the momentum, but I’m sure they will come back and have a reason.”
Robinson then chimed in again, doubling down on his criticism by saying: “Did he lean weight? Yes he did, then it’s a no try, they are making it very difficult at the moment.
“With that one there hasn’t been too many of those because guys know the rule, you can’t go in. The drives they’ve got out of the game quite well.
“The rule in that, that has been in for a long time, but it wasn’t an accident, a guy purposely went in and pushed, realised what he was doing and pulled out. No try.”
Originally published as Rooster coach takes aim at Bunker after calls in loss to the Storm