Penrith coach Cleary blasts ‘ridiculous’ bunker call

By Jasper Bruce

Ivan Cleary has claimed the jury is out on whether the bunker prevents or creates poor refereeing decisions after a “ridiculous” call in Penrith’s defeat of Canterbury.

The four-time premiership-winning coach also slammed a “dumb play” from rival forward AJ Jones, but was most incensed by an earlier decision that denied Tom Jenkins a first-half try.

An airborne Jenkins reefed the ball out of Jacob Kiraz’s grasp in the 24th minute of Friday’s 24-10 win and looked to have touched down for his 29th try of the year.

But the bunker supported referee Gerard Sutton’s on-field call of no try.

Kiraz was ruled to have caught Nathan Cleary’s kick in the in-goal, meaning Jenkins could not contest possession and go on to score.

But coach Cleary pondered whether Kiraz had actually maintained possession long enough to constitute a fair catch.

“Do you reckon it passed the pub test, that one? Nah, it’s ridiculous,” he said.

“If he caught the ball, with no-one around him in the air, then landed and dropped it, what would happen?”

The call swung momentum to the Bulldogs, who would have been trailing by at least 10-0 had Jenkins been awarded his try.

Instead, Canterbury rolled upfield where Matt Burton crossed to cut the deficit to two points.

“It was just ridiculous, honestly. That was a huge call because they get a penalty and then they score. Frustrating,” Cleary said.

Cleary, who previously worked as a referees’ consultant in between coaching jobs, pondered whether the bunker was still fit for purpose.

“I guess it’s everyone’s own opinion on whether the bunker is getting things enough right,” Cleary said.

“If we just go back to the original reason why we got it in the first place was to stop the howlers.

“The jury’s out whether that’s happening or creating more. I don’t know.”

Cleary also said Bulldogs rookie Jones should “potentially” have been sin-binned for pushing Penrith fullback Dylan Edwards off the ball late in the first half.

Sutton had earlier cautioned the opposing captains over tempers flaring, only for Jones to lash out at Edwards following a head clash with Burton.

“It was a pretty dumb play,” Cleary said.

“Dyl didn’t do anything wrong. There was a melee that they don’t want.”

At the time, the Bulldogs had been set to receive the ball back from a line dropout, but Sutton blew a penalty against Jones to let the Panthers off the hook.

“It’s probably a good learning for Jones,” said Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo.

“But what this group has really prided themselves on is sticking up for each other.

“That’s why AJ is going to be a really good Bulldog for a long time because he cares about his mates and he sticks up for his mates.”