'He definitely did': Gould and Gallen clash as pointed question asked of NRL referees
Phil Gould and Paul Gallen have gone head to head over whether the controversial penalty that decided Sunday's NRL blockbuster would be given in a grand final.
Referee Gerard Sutton bravely penalised Melbourne prop Trent Loiero for a high shot on Canberra's Hudson Young, allowing the Raiders to slot an easy penalty goal to beat the Storm in extra time in a bombshell finish to Magic Round.
Melbourne was penalised three times late in the game, each of which essentially robbed the Storm of a chance at victory, although not many pundits have argued any of the penalties were blatantly incorrect.
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Gould, though, does not believe a high tackle such as Loiero's should be allowed to decide a game in extra time.
"Tell me this, if that is golden point in the grand final are you going to decide a premiership on that?" Gould said on Nine's 100% Footy.
The suggestion irked former Cronulla premiership captain Gallen, who staunchly disagreed with Gould.
Gallen replied, "the fact is, Gus, it has to be (a penalty)... I'm not a referee, I don't want to be a referee, but that would be a penalty, in my opinion, every single day of the week".
Gould fired back, leading to a back-and-forth between the pair.
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"You mean to tell me in golden point in a grand final, they are going to decide the premiership on that?" Gould said.
Gallen: "I think he made contact with the head, Gus".
Gould: "You think he did? The bloke (Young) bounced up pretty quick".
Gallen: "He definitely did..."
Gould: "That's the problem with our game, that they consider those to be penalties... look at the rubbish we went through the week before. They toned it down this week - everyone said this week was good. It was better, it wasn't good, but we still get a result in a game like that... you tell me in golden point of a grand final they're going to blow that penalty".
Gallen finished, "well I think they would".
Phil Gould and Paul Gallen clashed on 100% Footy. Nine
Storm legend Cameron Smith looked sheepish when asked to enter the debate.
"It would be a big call, wouldn't it," Smith said.
"I don't know if they would.
"I'll tell you where we will find out, we will find out in three weeks' time in game one of Origin."
Gould and Andrew Johns last week voiced their discontent at the NRL for cracking down on high contact to the point 18 players were sin binned in round eight.
Referees wound it back in round nine after advice from NRL chief Andrew Abdo and ARLC chairman Peter V'landys.
