Bunker referee Adam Gee reviewed the incident but decided the contact was not high on Martin, and ruled no penalty. But Gee did not determine whether the tackle was late on the halfback, which NRL football boss Graham Annesley said it was.
“The real question is should this have been penalised on the field, and the answer to that is clearly yes, it should have been. Not because it was high but because it was late,” Annesley told media on Monday.
I know this was at a critical part of the game. The Bunker did review the incident, but they didn’t give due regard to the issue of lateness.
“We think this is a miss by the match officials. It’s unacceptable, but that’s what took place and I wanted to make it absolutely clear with how that came about, what they were focused on and what they actually missed.”
On Nine’s 100% Footy on Monday night, Gallen took aim the referees for failing to realise it was a penalty.
“Gus come on, that’s a penalty,” Gallen said in response to Bulldogs football manager Phil Gould on the panel.
“The broken jaw is unlucky… but it was a late tackle. (Martin) took two steps, he passed the ball and took two steps before he was hit. It’s a late tackle.”
Gould insisted “play it at real speed” and suggested Martin has a habit of dummying without passing the ball, which Salmon would have been anticipating.
But Gallen retorted, “he didn’t dummy, he passed the ball”.
“That is a penalty every day, particularly the way we go on about ‘we have to protect the playmakers’, they are a protected species,” Gallen said.
“That should have been a penalty and that is crucial to the Warriors’ season.”
Gould argued one decision – correct or incorrect – was not responsible for the result of the game.
But Gallen again hit back.
