‘No need for that’: Tensions boil over as Dogs’ season crumbles
Updated . First published at
A heavy collision between Dylan Edwards and Matt Burton sparked a heated melee in the final seconds of the first half of Penrith‘s 24-10 win on Friday night, ending the Bulldogs’ finals hopes in the process.
Burton was chasing a kick by Connor Tracey into the in-goal when he collided heads with Edwards, who had seconds before batted the ball dead.
Matt Burton clashes heads with Penrith’s Liam Martin. Nine
He stayed down on the turf for a lengthy period of time while his teammates rushed in to check on his welfare. Penrith’s defence ran towards Edwards to celebrate his effort in denying Burton the opportunity to score.
Edwards was not only met by his teammates, as some Bulldogs players took issue with his decision to step over Burton while he laid on the floor.
AJ Jones was the first to confront the Penrith fullback, shoving him in the back and consequently sparking what was the third scuffle of the first half.
“There is no need for that. It just sparked everything,” Billy Slater said on Nine.
As players from both teams piled in to the scuffle to separate Edwards and Jones, referee Gerard Sutton signalled a penalty against the Bulldogs and ordered trainers to assist Burton to the sheds for a head injury assessment.
“It looked bad,” Allana Ferguson said of Burton’s head knock at half-time.
“They will love him to be on because when he’s on, he poses an extra threat.”
Cameron Ciraldo did not scold Jones’ actions post-match.
“He will learn from that, but I never want him to lose that mentality of sticking up for his mates,” the Bulldogs coach said.
With seconds left on the clock, the visitors gave away another penalty and Nathan Cleary opted to take the kick from 35 metres out to push the margin to 8-4.
Burton passed his HIA and returned to play for the second half.
Canterbury had been given a fright about the welfare of Burton in the opening seconds of the half when he coped a knock to the head on the first tackle.
While he seemingly stumbled out of the tackle, he was left to stay in the action.
Penrith, however, were hungry to stamp their authority and score the first try.
Jack Kiraz and Liam Martin get up close and personal. Getty Images
A resilient set in the seventh minute by Penrith opened the door for the hosts’ first try, with Edwards breaking through and offloading to Liam Martin to score.
“They are relentless,” Slater said.
Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton was left frustrated by his own actions minutes later, having kicked the ball dead in a try-scoring situation and also dropping the ball cold in the next set just outside the Bulldogs’ 10m line.
Enari Tuala was then bundled over the sideline by a fierce Penrith defence minutes later, which prompted a small push-and-shove between the two teams. However, the homeside still could not find the moment to claim their second try.
The tension between the two teams did not diffuse over the next five minutes, with another melee breaking out after the Panthers carried Jacob Kiraz into touch.
Tom Jenkins looked to have pushed the Panthers up to 12-0 when he leapt up to contest a Cleary bomb with Kiraz and stole the ball as the pair come down, grounding it just before the dead ball line.
But referee Sutton was unconvinced that Kiraz did not have possession of the ball before Jenkins made an illegal strip in the in-goal.
Jacob Kiraz and Tom Jenkins compete for the ball. Getty Images
“How long do you have to have possession for?” Slater questioned as the Bunker reviewed Kiraz’s grip of the ball in the air.
“If he has the ball in his two hands that is possession ... and (Kiraz) has two hands on the ball,” the eighth Immortal Andrew Johns replied.
Penrith coach Ivan Cleary and his son Nathan disagreed with the call.
“That was just ridiculous, honestly,” the Penrith coach said post-match.
“If he caught the ball with no one around him and then landed and dropped it, what would have happened? It was a huge call ... then they scored.
“It’s frustrating. Do you reckon that would pass the pub test?”
Ivan and Nathan Cleary speak to media. Nine
Nathan added: “I could understand if his feet hit the ground ... but I don’t know when it is deemed a catch.”
The try was then denied by the Bunker and the Bulldogs moved to quickly hunt down their first points in the coming sets. Off the back of a 20m tap, a penalty and a set restart, Lachlan Galvin flicked the ball out to an unmarked Burton to strike.
“This is semi-final intensity. This is top-notch,” Johns said.
Martin found his second try in the third minute of the second half before a penalty goal minutes later pushed Penrith’s lead to 16-4.
The Bulldogs hit back thanks to a short ball into Jacob Preston in the 59th minute.
But minutes later, they gave away a penalty 20m out from their in-goal for an escort play. Cleary nailed the penalty kick before a Casey McLean try in the 63rd minute sealed the win for Penrith and all but ended the Bulldogs’ finals hopes.
“It is disappointing because if we played like this in the first 11 rounds, we wouldn’t be in this position. That made it a pretty hard job,” Ciraldo said.
Crichton added: “If we had the mentality that we did tonight, we wouldn’t of been in this position, like coach said.
“Everything happens for a reason. I regret bits of tonight myself, but we will learn from it and come back better.”
