In a tense Thursday night NRL clash that ended with Manly Sea Eagles notching up a 28-14 victory over South Sydney Rabbitohs, a contentious uncorrected officiating error has dominated post-match conversation, with veteran Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett launching a scathing attack on the sport’s multi-million-dollar bunker review system. The result extended South Sydney’s losing streak to three consecutive games, a run that has left Bennett openly frustrated with his side’s sliding form as the NRL season hits its midpoint. For Manly, the triumph capped off a fairytale week for incoming head coach Kieran Foran, who signed a three-year contract extension to stay at the club he once captained as a player.
The game hung on a knife-edge at 10-8 when Manly’s stand-in fullback Clayton Faulalo broke through the Rabbitohs defensive line to score a pivotal try that pushed the Sea Eagles further ahead. What went unseen by on-field officials at the time, however, was a clear mistake in the preceding play-the-ball from Manly edge forward Ben Trbojevic: match replays clearly showed Trbojevic bobbled the Steeden, with the ball appearing to stick to his hand rather than being placed correctly as NRL rules mandate. On-field referee Adam Gee failed to spot the infraction, and crucially, the bunker review officials did not have the authority to intervene and correct the call on a play-the-ball error.
Speaking to reporters after the final whistle, Bennett did not mince his words when questioning the purpose of the league’s heavy investment in the bunker system. “He didn’t play the ball properly, did he? It’s as simple as that, they pay all this money for the bunker and we still don’t get it right,” Bennett said. While the veteran coach stressed his underperforming side did not deserve to win on the night of the game, he argued that the system had failed its core purpose of getting critical decisions right.
“We weren’t playing well, so I’m not going to use that as an excuse. But the bottom line is that’s what they’re there for,” Bennett explained. “They play the ball, they’ve got to go back to the play the ball because a try was scored and that was all in the one movement. And if that’s an acceptable play the ball, then the game is going to change enormously really quickly.”
Bennett doubled down on his long-standing criticism of the review system, arguing that bunker officials have every advantage including multiple replay angles, hindsight and unlimited time to reach a correct ruling, yet still made costly mistakes. “We’ve got a bunker, it’s supposed to be perfect because they expect us to be perfect,” he said. “They have all the opportunity to make a decision and to see it. And they still get it wrong. I’m a fan of no bunker, I can tell you. I’d rather just the game played on with life and accept it like we always accepted it. Because they don’t get it right all the time, and they should, because they’ve got the benefit of hindsight, and there’s no time limit on their decision making.”
Beyond the officiating controversy, Bennett made clear his deep frustration with his own side’s form, which has seen the Rabbitohs slip down the ladder after a promising start to the season. “We’re not anywhere near where we should be, and we’re well into the season,” he said. “We should be playing some good football and we’ve gone backwards, we’re not going forward at the moment. Our performances are going backwards.” The Rabbitohs’ high error rate choked their much-vaunted attacking line-up for the majority of the clash, leaving them unable to mount a comeback after the controversial try.
For Manly, the win was the eighth in 10 games under Foran’s interim leadership, pushing the Sea Eagles back into the NRL’s top four ahead of their scheduled bye next week. The victory capped off a week of celebrations for Foran, who had confirmed he would continue as head coach for the next three seasons, with the club’s home ground temporarily renamed “Foz Pines Park” for the occasion, and a local KFC even superimposed Foran’s face onto the chain’s iconic Colonel Sanders logo in a playful tribute. Manly captain Jake Trbojevic said the team was determined to deliver a strong performance to reward Foran after a week of hype surrounding the new contract.
“On the way here, everywhere I drove had ‘Fozball’, ‘Foz Pines’, Kieran Foran Chicken, so I’m like, ‘geez, we better play good,’” Trbojevic told reporters after the match. “There was a lot going on but it was a really good performance.” Faulalo, who scored the controversial match-turning try, suffered a low-grade hamstring strain during the build-up to his score, but club officials have confirmed the injury is not expected to keep him sidelined for an extended period.