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NRL releases new footage to prove Melbourne Storm weren't robbed of a try in grand final

Social media is awash with claims the Storm were dudded against the Penrith Panthers.

sam goodwin
Sports Editor
·4-min read

The NRL has moved to dispel claims the Melbourne Storm were robbed in the grand final against Penrith, releasing new footage that shows Jack Howarth never got the ball to the ground. The Panthers won their fourth-straight premiership on Sunday night, beating the Storm 14-6 in a hard-fought finale.

But the big talking point after the game was whether or not the Storm were wrongly denied a try to Howarth in the second half. With the Panthers up 10-6, Howarth muscled his way over the line and claimed to have grounded the ball.

Melbourne Storm and Penrith Panthers players in the NRL grand final.
New vision has shown the Melbourne Storm weren't dudded in the NRL grand final. Image: Channel 9/Getty

But on-field referee Ashley Klein sent it to the Bunker as no-try, and Grant Atkins upheld that decision. However one camera angle shown by Channel 9 appeared to show the point of the ball making contact with the ground, sparking a social media frenzy that the Storm had been robbed.

But the NRL quickly moved to shoot down those claims, showing a new frame-by-frame angle to the media that proves Howarth's own arm was underneath the ball the whole time. In somewhat of an optical illusion, the replay shown by Channel 9 and screenshots circulating on social media make it appear as if Howarth's arm is the point of the football.

The new angle released by the NRL shows Howarth's arm making contact with the ground, not the ball. The NRL's head of football Graham Annesley said on Sunday night: "When I saw it live I was saying what everyone else was saying, I thought I saw the ball on the ground.

"It's only when we go back and look at it clearly that you can see the different colour between the arm and the ball. The ball is sitting on top of the arm, which then gets lifted up.

"They (the Bunker officials) are looking at this over and over again before they announce their decision, while we generally have one replay. We don't have time to clinically examine it like this but the bottom line is that the decision was correct."

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As Annesley pointed out, the Bunker has access to different camera angles than what is shown to TV viewers. In commentary for Channel 9, Brad Fittler said he believed the arm was underneath the ball the whole time.

Jack Howarth's arm, pictured here in contact with the ground.
It was Jack Howarth's arm that made contact with the ground, not the point of the ball. Image: Channel 9

However he was in the minority, with Andrew Johns saying: “Let’s have a look here. I am sure the ball gets down. Now. It is down. It’s on the ground. He gets the ball down there. The ball gets down on the ground right there.”

Social media was also awash with claims the Storm had been wrongly denied, until the new footage started to do the rounds later on Sunday night. Scott Bailey of AAP wrote: "If ever there was an argument for broadcasters to show what the bunker sees, that was it. The NRL have shown media footage that clearly shows Howarth did not ground the ball. But that's a tough sell to everyone who just turned off the TV.

"I’m sure they will release 4K footage. But the vision shown to media at the ground shows it to be no try. Understand a lot of people may not believe that, but Annesley is adamant it was correct call."