One of the biggest talking points from the Storm’s thrilling Semi-Final Win over the roosters was referee Ashley Klein’s missed knock-on call against Harry Grant in the first half.
It drew disagreement from the Roosters, with Roosters captain James Tedesco voicing his frustration to Klein, and coach Trent Robinson expressing his disappointment at the decision post-play.
But close to the action for Triple M’s call team was Ryan Girdler, who explained that the missed call was difficult to notice in the flow of play.
“You don’t have the benefit of the bunker in those sort of live situations, so he [Klein] has got to make a call on the run,” Girdler said.
“There [were] a lot of guys around him at the time, and I didn’t see a replay because we didn’t really stop to have a look at that, they went on and scored the try.
“Being live at the ground, it didn’t really seem like such a big issue, everyone was talking about how good the take was by Harry Grant.”
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Brent Read also shared his view on the knock-on non-call, stating his surprise that the call was missed given Klein’s position relative to the play.
“What’s surprising about it with Ashley, is that he was in the perfect position to rule on that,” Read said.
“He couldn’t have had a better view of it.
“Referees make mistakes, we all make mistakes, players make oodles of them in a game of football, but that was just a really glaring one.
“In that environment, on that stage, you just can’t afford to get them wrong.”
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