Graham Annesley clarifies controversial calls from Eels vs. Knights

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Head of NRL elite football operations Graham Annesley has delivered his verdict on a pair of controversial bunker calls from Saturday night’s Newcastle Knights vs. Parramatta Eels match. The former Gold Coast Titans boss sided with the referees and defended their two controversial decisions in his weekly football briefing on Monday.  

Bunker calls mar Knights vs. Eels match 

Newcastle vs. Parramatta was one the top matches of NRL Round 17. It was also a match full of controversial refereeing decisions.  
 
The first decision came when Eels’ Clint Gutherson felt he was blocked by the referee as he tried to make a tackle to stop a potential Newcastle tie. He was unsuccessful and the Knights scored.  
 
The most controversial calls came later when the Eels were not allowed to score. Most notably, in the second half, Blaize Talagi was denied of what looked to be a certain try after the referees ruled the ball had come out of his hand.  

Annesley defends calls 

The Knights vs. Eels match was one of the biggest talking points at Graham Annesley’s weekly football briefing.  
 
On the Clint Gutherson blocking call, Annesley said “There's no black and white answer to it.” He spoke in greater depth about the Talagi try call.  
 
“This is quite different to the interpretation,” Annesley said about the decision to deny Talagi’s tie, “We spoke about at the start of the year where if a ball comes out of a hand as the player is trying to place it on the ground, if there is separation then they have to catch up with it before it hits the ground, and then if it does roll down the arm and they catch up with it, that can be ruled a try. 
 
“But that’s not what happens here because the ball was, firstly, grounded short of the line, and regardless of what you think about the separation, it’s short of the line and then the ball rolls across the line with the arm. 
 
“If you elevate that up off the ground then the ball comes out of his hand and there’s nothing to stop it from dropping away from the air.  
 
“There’s no way this can be ruled a try. It was ruled no-try live, and there was no evidence for the Bunker to overturn the original decision.” 

Parramatta Eels fans have not responded to Annesley’s comments well. Their club has a chance to make things right this Thursday at home against the Rabbitohs. However, the Eels are underdogs according to the betting sites. Parramatta have lost four of their last five games at home.