The NRL's head of football Graham Annesley has labelled the elimination final between the Sydney Roosters and South Sydney Rabbitohs as "disappointing."
In a game that saw seven sin bins, breaking an NRL record, and the match review committee this morning forced to hand down five charges for two suspensions, the fallout from critics today has been damning.
A fiery clash that ultimately saw the Rabbitohs come out on top to keep their season alive, Annesley said it wasn't what we want to see in the NRL.
"I don't think it's necessarily what we want to see in our game," Annesley told reporters.
"The game has worked very hard over a long period of time, going back decades, to eliminate foul play from our game and player misconduct.
"Yesterday, the players overstepped the mark on a number of occasions.
"We've got a responsibility as a game to the entire community. Some of those (sin-binning) occasions were not an acceptable way to play the game."
Speaking at his weekly footy briefing, Annesley also said Klein had done a good job in officiating the game, and that all of the sin bins were deserved.
"There was a lack of discipline by the players," he said.
"That's not in the hands of the match officials, that's in the hands of the players and how they approach the game.
"Yesterday, we saw a whole range of incidents that took place where the players frankly took those decisions out of the hands of the referees and the bunker."
The Rabbitohs will now move through to Week 2 of the finals where they will take on the Cronulla Sharks, while the Roosters' season has come to a close.
