Wayne Bennett blasted the NRL bunker after Alex Johnston was ruled to have knocked on at a vital stage during the Rabbitohs’ 20-10 loss to Newcastle, and declared: “The quicker they get rid of the bunker, the happier I’ll be.”
South Sydney lost Cody Walker to a calf injury, then lost to an impressive Knights who now march on to week two of the finals for a showdown against the loser of Saturday’s Warriors-Dolphins clash.
Approaching the hour mark at Allianz Stadium on Friday night, Latrell Mitchell squeezed a pass for Johnston who appeared to have the ball stripped from him by Knights backrower Jermaine McEwen.
Play was allowed to continue, Johnston kneed the ball forward, then Jayden Sullivan kicked it further ahead before scoring.
Referee Ashley Klein awarded a try, but bunker official Chris Butler had other ideas, claiming McEwen was trying to make a tackle, and Johnston simply lost the ball.
Rather than potentially go ahead 12-10, Souths were on the back foot, and 10 minutes later conceded a try to Dominic Young, who appeared to put his right foot on the touchline.
Bennett complimented Newcastle on playing a “tremendous game”, and was mindful to not deflect from the result, but he was also clearly frustrated with the bunker, which was meant to eliminate every contentious call.
“Anyone who plays rugby league or knows rugby league knows that was a knock-on,” Bennett said.
“The ball was knocked out of his [Johnston’s] hands.
“The referee awards a try, then the bunker buys in and says it’s no try.
“Ten minutes later, Newcastle winger Dom Young goes down the sideline, I’m not sure if he put his foot on the sideline, but the bottom line is the bunker comes back and says, ‘we’re going with the referee’s call’.
“I want to know who is refereeing the game, that’s the first thing I want to know.
“Is it the bunker or is it the referee?
“In the case of Alex Johnston … you can look at that 50 times, everyone can come up with a different opinion. It’s just too technical. It’s not what the game needs.
“I’ve been in the game a long time, I’ve seen a lot of things, and I don’t think the bunker enhances our game to the [level] we believe it does.”
Bennett said he was happy to live with referees’ making poor calls, just as he was prepared to cope with mistakes made by his own players.
“But the bunker was meant to be 100 per cent bulletproof, and it’s not,” he said.
“It won’t stop here tonight. There will be more instances through the play-offs, I can promise you.”
Bennett was also confused by a call in the first half to penalise Mitchell when he appeared to be struck first by Knights centre Dane Gagai.
The Mitchell-Gagai duel was one of the great match-ups of the evening.
Newcastle coach Justin Holbrook thought “common sense prevailed” with the decision to strip Souths of the Johnston and Sullivan try, while Cameron Smith said during the live commentary it did not deserve to be a try.
The Knights looked like a team that was fresh from the bye the previous week, and looked in more sync in attack.
Souths were not helped by Walker breaking down on the half hour, with the playmaker immediately signalling to the sideline for help.
He would have been unlikely to play on next weekend had Souths progressed, but Bennett confirmed the club was keen for him to play on in 2027, even though a deal was yet to be formally struck.
Aside from Walker, then Johnston failing to finish the game with a groin complaint, Souths had enjoyed a good run with injuries at this time of year.
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