NRL referee Ashley Klein has been slammed for a “disgraceful, game-changing refereeing blunder” during the Roosters’ 13-18 semi-final loss to the Melbourne Storm.
Roosters captain James Tedesco was left fuming after Klein missed a crucial knock-on call only metres in front of him, as the Storm took advantage and went the length of the field to score a try.
In the 25th minute and with Melbourne leading 6-0, the Roosters were on the attack as halfback Sam Walker put up a bomb, which was knocked back by the Roosters.
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Storm hooker Harry Grant attempted to claim the ball. However, he appeared to knock-on before he regathered the ball, which should have resulted in a scrum being awarded to the Roosters.
Instead, Klein let play continue as Melbourne travelled the length of the field with centre Marion Seve scoring for the Storm, extending their lead to 10-0.
Following the play, a frustrated Tedesco was overheard on the audio having a heated and tense exchange with Klein.
“I understand but I thought he got his arm underneath it,” Klein attempted to explain to Tedesco.
“That wasn’t even close!” Tedesco fumed.
“They (Melbourne Storm) could have challenged it! Sir, you’ve got to give us the benefit of the doubt! That was obvious!”
“I only call it as I see it, OK? I apologise,” Klein said.
“I can’t say anything more than that.”
The controversial moment left commentators and fans stunned.
“It’s hard enough to win semi-finals playing within the rules but that right there, Ashley Klein, you can see him there to the left… that is a blatant knock-on every day of the week,” rugby league great Corey Parker raged on Fox League.
“Off the back of that they roll down the other end of the field and Marion Seve was able to come up with a try.
“That is a horrible decision from Ashley Klein, it should never have been made. It should’ve been pulled up, he was right in a good spot.”
Fellow rugby league great Michael Ennis agreed.
“You can give the referee some leeway but that one was blatant,” Ennis said on Fox League.
“It was right in front of Ashley Klein, he was two or three metres away right in front of where Harry Grant dropped the ball.
“As Corey said it is such a significant moment, it is so hard to find points in these types of games and it was a big blunder.”
Fans took to social media to express their horror over the call.
“Is Ashley Klein genuinely blind? He’s five metres away from it and calls that a catch,” one person said.
“I’m not going to say anything for either team either way here so as to step away from any potential bias – but there is absolutely no way Ashley Klein should ref any other finals game, let alone be considered for the grand final. I couldn’t allow him to even run the touch line,” added another.
“Don’t think I’ve witnessed a more incompetent performance from a referee since Greg Hartley in 1978. Ashley Klein can not referee another match in the finals series. Mistake after mistake. Just putrid,” another fan raged.
Speaking during the post-match press conference, Tedesco was still fuming about the decision.
“He (Klein) just said he called it as he saw it, I was 30 metres away and could see that he dropped it, I think he was right there,” Tedesco said.
“It’s hard when you can’t really have a conversation on the run when you’re at the back and you can’t really stop play and run up … I think it was pretty obvious, I think everyone saw it was a knock on.”
Roosters coach Trent Robinson was also frustrated with the controversial call.
“It was pretty clear that it was dropped, he was right there, it hit the ground, what can you do?,” Robinson said after the match.
“It was an error and then they went down the other end and scored; but we should’ve also stopped that; but that would’ve been a tryscoring opportunity to us 10 metres out from the line and in finals games they’re always critical.”
Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy agreed that Grant did knock the ball on.
“I thought Harry did drop that ball and that was a big call or a big non call,” Bellamy said.
“But having said that, it’s hard to blame the referee for everything. He’s got touch judges and guys in the Bunker and that sort of stuff.”
The Storm will take on the Panthers in a preliminary-final next week in Sydney with the winner to advance to the grand final.
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