NRL fans fume over Nathan Cleary moment that meant golden point 'shouldn't have happened'
The Penrith Panthers halfback played the hero in his first game in 11 weeks.
Nathan Cleary is the talk of the NRL world after his match-winning heroics for Penrith against the Dolphins on Sunday. The Panthers halfback nailed a field-goal from 45 metres out to sink the Dolphins in extra-time, after Wayne Bennett's side had led 26-12 in the second half.
But fans were left fuming over a missed moment involving Cleary late in regulation time that many believe would have given the Panthers the win without it having to go to golden point. Cleary appeared to be brought down by a blatant trip from Max Plath, but the referee completely missed it and the bunker didn't get involved either.
With the score locked at 26-26 at the time, it should have given the Panthers a penalty and a shot at goal from 40 metres out to take the lead. But the referee didn't call it, and Cleary could be seen in disbelief that the whistle wasn't blown.
It didn't make much difference in the end, with Cleary nailing his first field-goal attempt to give Penrith a 28-26 win (it ended up being a two-point field-goal). But that didn't stop the complaints flying think and fast over Plath's trip that was completely missed.
"It shouldn't have gone to GP (golden-point) because Penrith should've had a penalty for the trip on Cleary 45m out the set before," one person wrote on social media. Another person commented: "Should have never gone to golden point if the ref and bunker had seen a clear trip on Cleary."
May not have needed GP time if the @NRL officials picked up the deliberate trip on Cleary 🤔🤦♂️
— Scott Snelgrove (@ScottySnelgrove) July 21, 2024
The ref that let the Dolphins flop for 70 mins, didn't sin bin the professional foul holding down Tago after the break, missed the clear trip on Cleary, have a contentious strip against Eisenhuth... That referee?
— Alex Carter (@abbacarter) July 21, 2024
Shouldn’t have been golden point, max plath should’ve been penalised for a trip on cleary
— Ma (@cheesybeans45) July 21, 2024
Gee and the bunker didn’t call 2 obvious penalties in the last 5 minutes. The trip on Cleary and the high tackle on Farnworth. #NRLPanthersDolphins
— Roll on (@r8llon) July 21, 2024
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Nathan Cleary rescues Panthers in golden-point triumph
Playing his first game since tearing his hamstring in May, Cleary proved his worth and twice rescued the Panthers with the game on the line. "It's pretty handy having him, it was a huge play at the end," said Penrith coach Ivan Cleary.
The Panthers rested all five of their State of Origin players and were way below their best in front of 20,955 at BlueBet Stadium. But as he did in last year's grand final, Cleary found a way by helping his side claw back a 14-point deficit.
"Physically I felt really good, it was probably a bit frantic at stages," said the Penrith No.7 after his first game in 11 weeks. "Particularly in defence but that's something to work on. I knew I was not going to come back and to be honest when I've come back from lay-offs I have been pretty scratchy."
Dolphins halfback Isaiya Katoa had the chance to win it for his side, but inexplicably kicked cross-field rather than taking a shot at a field-goal late in regular time. "We should have kicked the field goal two minutes before that when we had them down the other end of the field," Bennett said.
"He (Katoa) has got a lot of things on his mind, we had broken the line, we had 12 men and we had just gone 60 metres all of that happening pretty quickly. I'm not blaming him at all, that was a moment in the game."
with AAP
