Annesley's weakly excuses presser - 2023 edition!

[Ron E. Gibbs]

What bull****. "Optical illusion", "travelled forward across the ground" - all rubbish. I knew he wouldn't just come out and say it was a dud call. Had to prevaricate and waffle.

 

[rj90]

Traditionally, we call it 'weakly', not weekly because of the lame excuses.

and by we..I guess I mean me as I did it the last few years. lol

(thanks for posting)

Fixed 😊

 

[rj90]

Annesleys direct quotes:

“He rotates his body and he’s looking at Schuster who’s chasing him. The angle of the ball as it comes out of the hands is being passed backwards,” NRL head of football Graham Annesley said at his weekly briefing.

“From the point where the ball is passed … to the point where the ball is caught, the ball has clearly moved forward across the ground.

“But that’s not the indicator of a forward pass. It’s not about the path that the ball travels across the ground, it’s about how the ball comes out of the hands. That’s the rule and it always has been.”

 

[Dion Johnson]

Extract from this article on Koula

Meanwhile, NRL head of elite football Graham Annesley said referee Chris Sutton should not have ruled a forward pass on Saturday night when Tom Trbojevic was about to score.
“It was the wrong decision, it was a misjudgement by the referee, and play should have been allowed to continue,” Annesley said

‘Special talent’: Manly’s plan to stop Koula following Suaalii back to rugby

Manly will crank up negotiations with centre Tolutau Koula in the hope he doesn’t follow good mate Joseph Suaalii back to rugby.

www.smh.com.au

 

[fLIP]

Yeah they got the ruling wrong, whats done is done, onwards and upwards.

I cant sit back and rubbish Annesley in this context however. Not many sports come out each week and critique themselves publicly and right or wrong calls aside I think it ads to the whole theater of the game in general.

**** call, good job owning it.

 

[eaglebuzz]

They need to put the stupid chips into the ball so they can cut this BS out of the game. If Annesley can come out and say it was a dud call 2 days later we should at least be able to use a captain's challenge.

 

[Seagles68]

It was very weird. It was like he was breaking down what happened as if the ref had made a fair pass call and Annesley was just supporting his decision. He didn't actually put up his hand and say the ref got that wrong.

Yeah, that's what I thought when I was watching it. I was waiting for him to give some BS argument to say even tho its was thrown backwards, it was forward. It WAS very weird.

 

[JenEagle]

We seem to lose these close games all the time from dud calls :

2022 v Eels when Tom got injured. So many bad calls

2020 v eels with the turbo fwd pass

2019 v souths in that semi when Jake was binned. There were some terrible calls in that game.

2014 semi against the dogs when reynolds was offside when snake went for fg. That was a joke

2013 GF - just ludicrous. Where do u even begin.

The only game that went our way was 2012 semi against the cows with Foran hand of god. That was a bad call.

 

[Once Was Brissie Kid]

So the NRL on Monday watched the video and found the pass was ok as it was thrown backwards, but can't do anything to redress Manly.

So that would be same video that the bunker is not allowed to look at during the game, which would have at the time it happened made right the wrong.

Good thunkin' NRL.

The NRL is not willing to allow the bunker to look at forward pass calls because they are scared they can't get them correct every freakin' time. But in the process they have obvious calls like last Saturday let go.

RU manages to use video in games to decide on forward passes.

The NRL got rid of video replays after 2001, but the debate started by Dragons fans after all the officials failed to pick up a Dogs forward pass in a corner of oval-shaped Kogarah Oval in a semi final in 1998.

 

[Once Was Brissie Kid]

We seem to lose these close games all the time from dud calls :

2022 v Eels when Tom got injured. So many bad calls

2020 v eels with the turbo fwd pass

2019 v souths in that semi when Jake was binned. There were some terrible calls in that game.

2014 semi against the dogs when reynolds was offside when snake went for fg. That was a joke

2013 GF - just ludicrous. Where do u even begin.

The only game that went our way was 2012 semi against the cows with Foran hand of god. That was a bad call.

2010 vs Eels as well. Two forward passes, plus offside player picks up the chip kick - all in the one try and Manly lost by 4. By season's end those lost 2 points on the table meant Manly finished 8th and had to play 1st placed Dragons at Kogarah.

 

[HoldenV8]

The only game that went our way was 2012 semi against the cows with Foran hand of god. That was a bad call.

What people tend to forget from that game is that the Cows got a try from a clear forward pass from Thurston. It went about a metre forward. So either way, take the try from both and we still win.

You didn't hear him blowing up to the ref about letting the forward pass go.....

 

[JenEagle]

What people tend to forget from that game is that the Cows got a try from a clear forward pass from Thurston. It went about a metre forward. So either way, take the try from both and we still win.

You didn't hear him blowing up to the ref about letting the forward pass go.....

100 percent agree. I saw that fwd pass live and called it.

 

[TheSoaringEagle2023]

NRL needs something similar to a swear jar for Annesley. Every time there is a big stuff up by the refs, he has to pay a big fine to the clubs. What's the point in having a position made for Annesley if he keeps apologising every time there's a mistake, the outcome has already been decided.

 

[StuBoot]

So the NRL on Monday watched the video and found the pass was ok as it was thrown backwards, but can't do anything to redress Manly.

So that would be same video that the bunker is not allowed to look at during the game, which would have at the time it happened made right the wrong.

Good thunkin' NRL.

The NRL is not willing to allow the bunker to look at forward pass calls because they are scared they can't get them correct every freakin' time. But in the process they have obvious calls like last Saturday let go.

Yet, they use the bunker to determine if a ball is batted forward or back when two players contest a bomb, or if a player is slightly offside despite camera angles not being directly in line.
Hell, they even determine "intent to strip the ball" without really knowing if that's what the player was trying to do.

I understand they can't stop play just to check but surely the onfield ref shouldn't pull up a pass and stop a play unless it's definitively forward out of the hands.
If they knew they were accountable and were dropped to Reggie's they may think twice.

 

[rj90]

Yet, they use the bunker to determine if a ball is batted forward or back when two players contest a bomb, or if a player is slightly offside despite camera angles not being directly in line.
Hell, they even determine "intent to strip the ball" without really knowing if that's what the player was trying to do.

I understand they can't stop play just to check but surely the onfield ref shouldn't pull up a pass and stop a play unless it's definitively forward out of the hands.
If they knew they were accountable and were dropped to Reggie's they may think twice.

Great point! I always laugh that the bunker can mind read to determine what a players intent was, but can't use judgement on whether a pass was forward or backwards out of the hands.

Let the bunker rule. If it's a howler, overturn it. If they review it and can't decide, then revert back to the on field decision like they do for everything else.

Kenty & co complaining that it'll slow the game down, blah blah. That's not the point. The purpose is to correct these clearly wrong decisions, that ultimately can cost teams matches. We have the technology, so fkn use it.

 

[Once Was Brissie Kid]

Yet, they use the bunker to determine if a ball is batted forward or back when two players contest a bomb, or if a player is slightly offside despite camera angles not being directly in line.
Hell, they even determine "intent to strip the ball" without really knowing if that's what the player was trying to do.

I understand they can't stop play just to check but surely the onfield ref shouldn't pull up a pass and stop a play unless it's definitively forward out of the hands.
If they knew they were accountable and were dropped to Reggie's they may think twice.

Paradoxically, if the bunker can rule on forward passes, then referees may be even more inclined to call forward passes.

If DCE could have challenged last Saturday and won, it just would have got Manly a play the ball to continue the set. There is no way the bunker could have said "Fair pass, therefore that's a try" because the referee blew his whistle to stop play well before Turbo ''scored'. Souths defenders may have stopped Turbo if the whistle had not gone off.

Let's face it, the real answer is not the bunker being allowed to rule on forward passes (unless the refs don't take issue with the pass until after the try is 'scored'), nor is the answer some ball tracking tech (which is useless as the ball DID lawfully go forward across the ground).

The problem on Saturday was the referee made a horribly bad live call. That's where it begins and ends.

But i agree, using the bunker to check if a ball was batted forward, but not if it was passed forward, ranks with some of the dumbest logic in world sport in my view.

 

[SeaEagleRock8]

Best try difficult, but right decision
Correct decision on the Best no-try, I thought at the time Knights were dudded but the hi-def shots show otherwise.

Also confirmed this ball should have been called out!

 

[The Who]

I totally disagree with the Bunker ruling; the Best try WAS a try.
Look at in in real time and there is no question; no reason to doubt it being a try. No reason to even look at it.
The problem the Bunker keeps creating is looking at action in stop-frame. Why? All sport is played at normal speed and rulings should be adjudicated that way.
Manly dodged a bullet with this ruling but you can bet we'll be on the receiving end similar howlers at several stages of this season.

 

[Shoe1]

We already were on the end of a howler last week.

Re the 40:20 above, did Annesley confirm it went out?? If so that’s another howler, knights scored soon after.

 

[Jerry1]

2010 vs Eels as well. Two forward passes, plus offside player picks up the chip kick - all in the one try and Manly lost by 4. By season's end those lost 2 points on the table meant Manly finished 8th and had to play 1st placed Dragons at Kogarah.

I was there it was shocking.