Capping off a disappointing loss to the South Sydney Rabbitohs was the controversy surrounding Bulldogs star Lachlan Lewis and his run in with South five-eighth Cody Walker.
Lewis and Walker were seen exchanging words as they were making their way off the field for half-time when the Bulldog suddenly grabbed his opponent and body-slammed him into the turf, prompting a type of pull-apart brawl.
half time sounds Lachlan Lewis has a few words and takes down Cody Walker and gets sinned binned for unsportsmanlike conduct
i tell you, there’s always something going on with these two clubs
#NRL #NRLSouthsBulldogs #NRLRabbitohsBulldogs pic.twitter.com/Lfib6XP7So
— nrl bits (@nrlbits) July 18, 2021
As a result of the incident, Lewis was sent to the sin-bin and missed the opening 10 minutes of the second half where the Bulldogs conceded a try and penalty goal in his absence.
When asked about the incident during his post-game presser, Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett was quite defensive and diverted attention away from the incident itself, instead opting to raise questions about the verbal altercation preceding the action in question.
“I’d like to know what happened actually for Lachlan to react like that,” Barrett stated to the media, per Fox Sports.
“I didn’t know you could get 10 minutes in the sin bin when play has been stopped and you are walking off at halftime.”
“He didn’t hit him or anything. But obviously something has happened. But I’m not sure.”
“It is completely out of character. Something has obviously happened for him to react like that”, Barrett emphasised.
When prompted to elaborate on his views of the officiating during the mentioned incident, Barrett deflected towards ranting about the less than favourable penalty count against his side: "We were on the end of 7-3 penalties again," - he said.
“Like they had to earn nothing and we are sitting here again in the same position”, he uttered.
“How we are that much worse or ill-disciplined in that area with the six to go’s and the penalties I just don’t know”, Barrett concluded.
In addition to disadvantaging his team in a reasonably close contest, Lewis will be fined $1600-2400 for his aggressive behaviour as he manages to escape without suspension.
It appears like there is plenty for Barrett and his Bulldogs to address as they head into their round 19 clash against the Cronulla Sharks.
