Manly Sea Eagles front rower and pack leader Josh Aloiai has taken aim at Referee Ben Cummins after Manly’s tough loss to the Parramatta Eels on Friday Night.
Manly fell to the Eels in the final moments of the game off the back of three crucial decisions. It was those decisions that left the Eagles a player short, defending their line. Eventually, it led to a Mitchell Moses conversion from the sideline to win.
These decisions were cause for coach Des Hasler to have a crack at the referee during his post-game press conference, and, speaking to the media on Tuesday, Aloiai didn't hold back.
"We were pretty hard done by for the most part, the ref done us no favours, particularly in the back end of the game,” Aloiai said.
"I think he done (sic) a bad job and we didn’t get the win so I’m pretty unhappy with him to be honest with you.
"I didn’t hear it and I don’t want to hear it because at the end of the day we lost the game and they can’t give us the game back so I’m not really happy about that.
“They can’t give us the two points so it’s frustrating.”
Along with the sin bin of Sean Keppie, the try-saving high shot from Christian Tuipulotu and a missed forward pass from Junior Paulo, Manly were on the wrong end of a 9-2 penalty count.
Tuipulotu's tackle, which wasn't originally ruled a penalty before bunker interference, had Hasler’s blood boiling on Friday night after the controversial encounter.
"It wasn’t high, no. It was a good tackle. It’s a brave tackle. They [those tackles] are called a try-saver,” Hasler said.
"The idea of the game is defence. The idea of the try-saver is to come up with big plays. It was a great play.
“There were a couple of stupid penalties we gave away, but I thought [there] were very dubious calls.”
“”We were pretty hard done by for the most part, the ref done us no favours, particularly in the back end of the game,” Aloiai said.
“I think he done (sic) a bad job and we didn’t get the win so I’m pretty unhappy with him to be honest with you.
“I didn’t hear it and I don’t want to hear it because at the end of the day we lost the game and they can’t give us the game back so I’m not really happy about that.”
Good job he can play Rugby League. Can’t see him being capable of earning a decent living doing anything else (if he has been reported accurately).
Seriously, if the ref took action on Tuipulotu’s tackle, only after the bunker instructed him to penalise it, then Josh Aloiai should be complaining about the bunker, not the referee. However, I suspect the subtlety of the distinction escapes him.