Daly Cherry-Evans pleaded with the referee, saying it wasn’t clear. Paul Vautin claimed those in charge of the game had gone bonkers.
But in the end it was clear.
The sin-binning of Manly forward Jake Trbojevic proved the turning point in South Sydney knocking the Sea Eagles out of the title race in a 34-26 win at ANZ Stadium.
Manly were leading by six with 13 minutes left in their NRL semi-final on Friday when Trbojevic took down Dane Gagai in his support of the ball-runner.
The Sea Eagles star was marched for a professional foul.
“It’s not clear. I’d understand if it was clear sir, but it’s not clear,” Cherry-Evans cried to referee Gerard Sutton.
“These people have gone mad, who are in charge of the game. They’ve gone absolutely bonkers,” Nine Network commentator Paul Vautin said.
Four minutes later Manly were down six, and eventually down and out in a pulsating contest that included two other contentious sin-bin decisions.
South Sydney advance to a preliminary final against Canberra next week, while the Sea Eagles will spend the summer ruing a missed opportunity.
Trbojevic was the third player marched, following teammate Brad Parker into the sheds after the Sea Eagles centre was binned for tripping.
He was ruled to have committed a professional foul for sticking his right leg out and bringing down Rabbitohs counterpart James Roberts.
South Sydney also had one of their own ordered the tunnel after five-eighth Cody Walker was alleged to have struck Jack Gosiewski in the face in a melee.
Gosiewski had given Rabbitohs fullback Adam Doueihi a facial, and Walker had rushed to his teammate’s aid before lashing out at the Sea Eagles forward.
“It’s striking, Sam,” Sutton told South Sydney captain Sam Burgess.
“His reaction demands that he has to go to the sin bin.”
The NRL cracked down on slaps to the face two years ago, however the decision still drew the ire of immortal Andrew Johns.
“You scratch your head sometimes and think, what do we want the game to be?” Johns said during commentary for The Nine Network.
