Manly Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold is livid over a midair tackle that left fullback Reuben Garrick hobbling through the remaining minutes of their 29-22 defeat to NZ Warriors.
The scary incident occurred, when Manly captain Daly Cherry-Evans had a field goal attempt charged down by Warriors fullback Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad, who then continued to chase the rebound and brought Garrick crashing to the ground on his back, as he leapt to gather the ball.
Garrick spent several moments on the ground recovering and eventually hobbled back into position, but Nicoll-Klokstad escaped punishment, because referee Todd Smith ruled the ball had bounced and had not been kicked.
Warriors regained possession from Garrick's knockon and from the ensuing set, second-rower Marata Niukore sprinted 40 metres through the Sea Eagles defence to score the winning try, with injured Garrick unable to chase him down.
"It was ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous," fumed Seibold. "It was ridiculous, mate.
"That's a penalty every day of the week, but the rules say it's not, because it bounced or wasn't a kick. How many times do we pull tackles up for a slight crusher and give a penalty... someone slipping up from the chest to the jaw and there's a penalty?
"Fair dinkum, let's be serious. If we go two points up with six [minutes] to go... Reuben can't run and we're saying it's not a dangerous tackle.
"That's two weeks in a row and I'll get a call from someone tomorrow from the NRL, apologising or saying it was the correct decision or it wasn't a dangerous tackle... it was a dangerous tackle. He's injured and couldn't finish the game.
"It's our season on the line, so I am pissed off about it."
Warriors coach Andrew Webster shrugged off his counterpart's protests.
"Should it be the rule?" he mused. "Yeah, it should be the rule.
"The ball is rolling, kicks up and bounces... where does Charnze go? It's scary, I get it, but Charnze is competing so hard for that football, and Reuben jumps and clips him."
While the result strengthens the Warriors' grip on a top-four spot on the NRL table, defeat virtually ends Manly's post-season hopes, as they slip three points outside the top eight, with two games remaining.
