Contrasting Views: Craig Bellamy Criticises Bunker Following Disallowed Try

Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy has acknowledged that he holds a “different perspective” regarding the Bunker’s ruling that annulled an important try from Eli Katoa during the Storm’s unexpected defeat to the Dragons.

The try was initially awarded by on-field referee Peter Gough, but it was overturned by Kasey Badger in the Bunker due to a knock-on during Katoa’s aerial contest with Kyle Flanagan.

The Dragons subsequently secured another penalty in the following set, which allowed them to advance down the field, culminating in Jacob Liddle scoring the match-winner.

In his post-match comments, Bellamy remarked that the Bunker had been “fairly active in the second half” and was later questioned about the Katoa try.

“Honestly, I only had a brief glance at it, and I probably have a slightly different opinion, but I’ll review a few angles,” he stated.

“There’s not much point in complaining or anything; the decision has been made and it’s not going to change now.”

Katoa’s reaction on-field, along with that of Storm captain Harry Grant, indicated their disagreement with the ruling.

The decision likely induced a significant swing in momentum, giving the Dragons the opportunity to clinch victory.

“I generally trust Eli; he’s a pretty straightforward guy about those things,” Grant commented after the match, while also acknowledging they “probably celebrated a bit too soon.”

“We were getting ready to regroup when the call was made to bring it back, but as Craig said, there’s no point trying to change it now,” he added.

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“But it’s probably one for them … they made that call, so they clearly saw something wrong with it.

“All we can do is improve on the next play and not linger on that. I felt like we allowed them to stifle several of our chances today.

“It took us a bit to move on from those; we lingered on them a little longer than we should have.”

The Dragons and Shane Flanagan seem to be turning into a bit of a thorn in the side for the Storm.

This defeat marked Melbourne’s second straight loss to the Red V, and it is only the second time in the joint venture’s history that they have achieved back-to-back wins over the Storm.

Furthermore, Melbourne have now experienced defeat in four of their last five outings at Kogarah, with Flanagan having guided teams to victory in six of their last eight clashes against the Storm.