Manly coach Geoff Toovey and his crestfallen players diplomatically tiptoed through the fine-infested minefield of criticising the officials, as they came to grips with their 26-18 grand final loss to the Sydney Roosters.
Manly didn’t appear to get the critical lineball calls, especially when there seemed to be a clear forward pass in one of the tries that was part of the Roosters’ resurgence from an 18-8 deficit at ANZ Stadium on Sunday.
Having already incurred a $10,000 fine this year Toovey chose his words carefully as he was bombarded with questions about the officiating at the post-match press conference.
“Full credit to the Rosters, though coming back from 18-8 we don’t normally lose games from there but it was pretty tough on the 50-50 calls again,” Toovey said.
“I thought they finished way too strong for us, We just ran out of petrol a bit at the end.”
Asked if the officiating was any different from other games this season, Toovey said “there’s no use speaking now emotionally, I get in trouble for that … oh sorry, some of us get in trouble for that.”
His players were philosophical rather than bitter about the refereeing and also praised the Roosters for their stirring fightback.
“You can’t control the bounce of the ball, you can’t control the referees’ decisions,” said halfback and Clive Churchill Medallist Daly Cherry-Evans.
“The Roosters took advantage of every opportunity they were given tonight, so credit has to got to be given to them.”
Prop George Rose, who is heading to Melbourne next season, hinted that Manly got a raw deal, but also had some sympathy for the referees.
“There seemed to be a few tough calls that went against us, but they are a good team,” Rose said.
“I think it’s a hard job being a referee, I think I definitely couldn’t do it.”
Cherry-Evans was adamant Manly could still regard the season as successful despite stumbling at the final hurdle, while Toovey said he was proud of how his team had performed.