Victor Radley escapes ban for divisive NRL act as Trent Robinson left 'seething'

Roosters coach Trent Robinson has let rip at the NRL with Victor Radley escaping a ban after he was controversially given 10 minutes in the bin for a hip drop tackle. The Bulldogs defeated the Roosters 30-26 in a dramatic contest after leading 26-0 in the first-half with the Roosters playing with 12 men on the field.

The Roosters stormed back and nearly produced one of the great comebacks in torrential rain, before the Bulldogs scored just the single try in the second-half to secure the victory. The Roosters endured a nightmare in the wet with James Tedesco leaving the field for concussion, before Young became the first player in 2024 to be sent off.

But one of the biggest talking points was the 10 minutes handed to Radley. In the 72nd minute, with the scores at 30-20, Stephen Crichton looked to break the line when Connor Watson managed to get hold of his legs.

As Crichton attempted to break the tackle, Radley dived across the body and on Crichton. The centre spun around and collapsed under the weight of the tackle.

The Blues centre was clearly in pain as he lay on the ground and Radley found himself heading to the sin bin. While he may have received 10 minutes in the bin, Radley was not cited for the tackle by the match review committee on Saturday.

“He’s dropped on the back of one leg here,” Steve Roach said on Fox Sports commentary. “Gets beaten out of the tackle, and then you can see that’s pretty dangerous." Warren Smith said the Roosters could have no complaints.

“Those lower legs on the legs of Crichton, and it was a very cumbersome, awkward-looking tackle," he said. “And I don’t think Roosters fans would have any complaints about that being a sin bin.”

While Roach and Smith thought Radley could be in trouble, Cooper Cronk and James Graham disagreed. The former Roosters halfback labelled the decision "perplexing", while Graham said it was a "bizarre" call. And Roosters coach Robinson let rip at the decision, which all but ended any chance of a comeback.

“Connor’s the one that tackles him from behind and twists his ankle and then he (Radley) falls on that ankle. How they got to that decision, that’s incredible. That was below par,” Robinson said in a heated post-match press conference. And even Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo called the sin bin call “pretty harsh”.

NRL fans take aim at Victor Radley sin bin

Fans sided with Cronk and Graham over the sin bin with many feeling Radley made a desperate tackle in the wet. Bulldogs head of football Phil Gould also claimed the sin bin on Radley was 'harsh'. Regardless of what fans believe, Radley will have to wait and see if he is set to miss any further games with the Roosters already likely to be without Tedesco next week.

Luke Keary calls out Roosters after nightmare performance

The Roosters were left battered and bruised on Friday night. Keary ended up replacing Tedesco after the captain went off due to concussion. And Keary claimed the effort from the Roosters was not good enough from the start, which saw the Bulldogs race to a 26-0 lead.

“It’s pretty embarrassing to be honest... we shouldn’t have been there,” Keary said. “We’re pretty embarrassed and disappointed by our effort. To turn up like that as a playing group is not good enough. To turn up at this time of the year, it’s not good enough.

“We just need to have a good look at ourselves. We need to sit down and look at each other and figure it out quickly.”

Robinson also too aim at Young's straight send-off having claimed he has seen that only handed 10 minutes in the bin in previous games. “He hit him in the jaw... but it was open-handed, it was lower than shoulder height,” he said.

“If that’s the standard that’s fine, but that’s a new one for me. I feel like that’s lower than what’s been sent off before. It just feels like we can set a new standard here again. We’ve had guys not even go for 10 for less. I feel like that was a bit over the top. There’ll be a lot more send offs in our game, there should be, if that’s the case.”