The bitter sting of State of Origin defeat was clearly fresh in the mouth of NSW coach Laurie Daley.
After the Blues lost 4-6 last night, the coach fairly unusually made the statement that he will demand the axing of the game’s two referees, Gerard Sutton and Ben Cummins, for the upcoming second Origin match.
You can see why he might be a little pissed off at the game’s officiation. The state of NSW bordered on the edge of riot when Josh Morris’ try – which could well have won them the match – was denied after being punted to The Bunker to be reviewed. As it stood, nobody scored any points in the second half.
Daley refused to say one way or another whether he thought that was the right decision – he reserved all of his ire for Sutton and Cummins. “Put it this way, I’ll be asking those two referees to not be officiating in game two,” Daley told reporters. “There’s your story. Based on history and based on that game.”
Ooft. Legendary ref Bill Harrigan took to the airwaves on Triple M to quickly condemn Daley’s statement. Understanding that Daley was probably running his mouth after a stinging loss, Harrigan dismissed the anger at that particular call. “When he does have an opportunity to review it on video he will see [the Morris call] was a dead set no try. That decision was correct.”
We’ll see how this one goes come game two.
Source: Sydney Morning Herald.
Photo: Getty Images / Matt King.
