Canterbury Bulldogs coach Trent Barrett has revealed he might start coaching his players to lie down and milk penalties after a Brisbane Broncos' match-winning try was allowed to stand during Sunday night's tight Round 2 clash between the two teams.
Off a scrum in midfield during the 64th minute and with scores locked at ten all, the Broncos would shift the ball to the left from Albert Kelly to Tesi Niu and onto Kotoni Staggs who found himself in space and running away to score.
Replays however indicated Braidon Burns had been impeded by Corey Oates who ran into the defensive line.
While Oates came out the other side of the defensive line instead of stopping, Burns was able to maintain his footing before chasing Staggs, but being unable to catch the Brisbane centre.
It appeared as though Oates made contact with the outside shoulder of Burns, however, the try was allowed to stand.
Barrett was understandably furious though, telling reporters at the post-match press conference that he would consider coaching his players to stay down.
“You can’t do that and that will be something we need to get some answers on,” Barrett said.
“I don’t coach players to lie down, but maybe I will now. Okunbor thinks he’s got help coming, but he didn’t. It’s in the rule book and you can’t do it - and it cost us badly.”
Brisbane coach Kevin Walters admitted his side got "a little bit of luck" on the match-winning try.
“We probably got a little bit of luck there I guess,” Walters said.
“I know that Oatesy did pull back on it. We’ll take that one, it could have gone the other way. But we lost a couple as well tonight. I think it balances out in the end.”
Barrett's blow up is sure to spark conversation regarding the obstruction rule, with it almost certainly set to be raised during Graham Annesley's weekly footy briefing on Monday afternoon.
