I guess that is footy though hey. Sometimes you get these calls in your favour, sometimes not.
The reality is though that Canberra only have themselves to blame. I said to my die hard Kiwi mate I was at the game with that the Warriors would have scored that set anyway, Canberra seemed to stripped for numbers on both sides of the ruck.
There are two other calls in the game which I think were worse than the Lodge penalty but again, can't say they cost Canberra the game.
1 - Warriors turn the ball over on halfway in the first 5 minutes, Valemi scoops it up, busts a few tackles and was away, would have scored except as soon as the ball hit the deck, the referee had blown a stoppage for a Canberra error. Canberra reviewed, it went upstairs and was ruled in their favour, a Warriors knock on. Since when have they stopped playing an advantage until the play is truly dead? You could argue that the Warriors heard the whistle and let Valemi through but they seemed to have a fair crack at tackling him from where I was seated.
2. Murdoch-Masila gets tackled, swings a pretty decent elbow / forearm at Tapine which connects and then Tapine shoves him in the face. Penalty to NZ (and I think Aitken scores off that set) when it should have been a play the ball as two big forwards were resenting each other.
Fair enough on points 1 & 2. For 2, I found it interesting that everybody seemed to miss that it was Papali'i's hand that raked at BMM's eye (accidentally). Tapine just got blamed. As you said, once cleared it should have been play on, but once things go up to the bunker they rarely get that outcome, which is ridiculous.
The standard of officiating is so poor and so inconsistent, and though there were a couple of grey decisions that occurred at some very key times for the Raiders, I think both teams got it bad.
As for Lodge staying down...meh. You get hit high, then that is illegal. Be more accurate. Harsh, but true of the modern game. How can a referee rule on whether a player fakes it or not as some innocuous tackle end up in concussion injuries? A mandatory 10 minute stand down for the guy is probably a good rule though. I was actually pissed that Lodge stayed down because I thought the Warriors were odds on to score that set to seal the game rather than send it to golden point. The Raiders looked down and out.
The Warriors lost their challenge at the start of the game when AFBs play of the ball in attacking territory got caught on the retreating foot of the Raider in an accident. Neither team should have been penalised for that, especially as AFB did not lose control of the ball at any stage. The Warriors conceded points on the back of it from memory, lost an attacking set and lost their challenge (and another 10 metres for reacting to the call).
Wighton could easily have been sin-binned for his illegal tackle, which now sees him miss games. (Personally I think they got it right).
There were a number of high shots that were not called (more inconsistency)
I thought Starling's forward pass was marginal live, but I haven't watched it back.
It is all swings and roundabouts though. Over a season teams end up where they belong usually. And to be fair nether team deserved that victory.
I will say that the lack of respect that the Warriors get in Aussie media is pretty rough. Even during our long winning streak a couple of years ago the narrative is always about the other team. Add to that the agitation to get Walsh and Munster to break their contracts, which is driven by a media that has a stake in the game, and the excessive penalty that was dished out to Montoya for his naughty word. The media needs a rocket from the NRL, they have way too much influence.
