The NRL has ticked off an offside decision against Gold Coast’s Erin Clark that sealed a loss to the Dolphins, insisting the Titans were penalised for a common play that often goes unpunished.
Clark was penalised for being offside pressuring Dolphin Jamayne Isaako on a failed field goal attempt, the winger slotting the subsequent penalty to pinch a 23-21 win on the Gold Coast.
NRL football boss Graham Annesley said the offside call was clear to see and played audio of referee Grant Atkins giving Clark multiple warnings not to get involved in the play before penalising him.
“It is a big call for the referee, but it's one that he had to make and he didn't shirk it,” Annesley said on Monday.
“There's been some suggestion in the Clark situation that it's probably no different to other situations for field goals. You can hear the referee call Erin Clark out of play.
“There have been many other incidents during the course of the year where the referee will call a player out of play and they will stop or they'll drop out. In this case he doesn't.”
Annesley addressed Gold Coast five-eighth Kieran Foran’s on-field criticism of Atkins, where he suggested he’d let an offside infringement slide at the other end of the field when halfback Tanah Boyd equalised the game in regulation with his own field goal.
Dolphins fullback Kodi Nikorima got strong pressure on Boyd’s kick and even got a hand on the ball, but couldn’t prevent the one-pointer.
“You didn’t blow that down the other end, you’ve got to make sure it’s for both,” Foran was heard telling Atkins.
Annesley played audio of Atkins warning the Dolphins’ defence not to move until the ruck had been cleared, with Nikorima seen to be in line with the referee at that moment.
“Both attempted to either keep their team in the game or to win the game, they're clearly going to take a kick that's going to result in points and you just want that kick to be taken fairly,” he said.
“In the case of the Nikorima pressure it was, even though he got a touch on it.
“In the case of the Clark it wasn't, he got away too early.”
