Fears for NRL grand final after Roosters dudded by blatant wrong call in prelim loss to Storm

NRL fans and pundits are expressing fears the grand final will be decided by an officiating blunder after the Roosters were dudded by an incorrect call on Friday night. The Melbourne Storm advanced to their first grand final since 2020 after beating the Roosters 48-18 in their preliminary final clash.

And while the scoreline doesn't suggest so, things could have been very different if not for a refereeing blunder that led to a Storm try. With the Roosters mounting a comeback and only trailing 24-18, the Storm were awarded a try in the second half after a blatant knock-on and offside.

Referee Grant Atkins ruled that Angus Crichton knocked the ball backwards and into the hands of Storm player Eli Katoa, but replays showed the ball clearly came off Melbourne forward Alec McDonald as well. The ball travelled forward off McDonald's hand, meaning Katoa was offside when he caught it.

The Storm then scored to make it 30-18, but because the knock-on occurred the tackle prior to the try, the Bunker wasn't allowed to go back and review it. The situation summed up the farcical state of NRL officiating and the Bunker, with fans blowing up that the Bunker official wasn't allowed to correct what was a clearly incorrect call.

The blunder cruelled any hope the Roosters had of mounting a comeback, and there are major concerns that a similar situation might occur in next week's grand final. NRL journalist Jack Blyth wrote on social media: "It’s scary to see this big of an error nine days before the grand final. Move on to tomorrow’s game, and pray we don’t see that next week."

Michael Ennis said on Fox Sports: “Oh geez, the hands there of Alec MacDonald. I think we’ll hear more of that. That certainly comes forward off the hands of Alex MacDonald. That’s a big call. That’s a big moment there.”

While Paul Vautin said on Channel 9: “That’s definitely come off MacDonald’s hands and gone forwards. No doubt they are his hands right on it. It goes forward to a player who is off-side and that was let go and then from the next play the ball, Melbourne scored and you can’t go back to that.”

Jahrome Hughes and Victor Radley lucky not to be sin-binned

Roosters fans were also left fuming in the opening minutes when Jahrome Hughes was allowed to stay on the field despite committing what appeared to be a blatant professional foul. With Angus Crichton streaming through to chase a kick close to the line, Hughes stepped into his path and put his leg out, bringing the Roosters forward to the ground.

The referee awarded a penalty, but many thought it should have been 10 minutes in the sin-bin. The officials appeared reluctant to reduce the Storm to 11 players after Nelson Asofa-Solomona was binned just minutes prior after a high tackle on Lindsay Collins on the opening tackle of the game.

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However it wasn't just the Storm on the receiving end of favourable calls, with many believing Victor Radley was also lucky not to be binned for a hip-drop tackle. Fans blasted the officiating in such a big game, however many were of the opinion that Melbourne were too good for the Roosters anyway and a class above.