‘Touch footy or rugby league?’: Storm skipper’s explosive NRL plea as Sharks coach fumes at farce

Storm skipper Harry Grant has delivered a blunt warning over the state of the NRL, questioning whether the game wants to be “rugby league or touch footy” after a frustrating stop-start affair against the Sharks was plagued by a staggering 24 infringements.

Melbourne somehow emerged from the stop-start madness with a dramatic last-minute victory, Grant producing a sublime flick pass to send Trent Loiero over for the match-winner and condemn the Sharks to missing the top eight for the first time since 2010.

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.

But the thrilling finish couldn’t mask the frustration surrounding a contest repeatedly bogged down by penalties and set restarts, drawing comparisons to the infamous clash between the same sides eight years ago when 33 penalties were blown and Cameron Smith was sent to the sin bin.

There’s an overwhelming sense of frustration around the league at the moment with set restarts rising in the weeks leading into the finals, with players concerned about the speed of the game and what it means for the product.

“I think everyone in the game is getting quite frustrated with it, I know I am,” Grant said, with 18 infringements in the first half alone leading to several melees.

“I’ve talked to other players in the game, and you don’t know what constitutes a quick play-the-ball or what constitutes a slow play-the-ball.

“We’re playing rugby league, we’re not playing touch out there, and sometimes it just feels like we are. No wonder why we get so many people on report or all these penalties. It’s because the game is getting to a pace where players are just doing their best.

“For me, I worry about the welfare of all players across the board. You go talk to anyone, and everyone would be feeling the same. I think we need to collectively look at what that is and what we really want.

“Do we want to play touch football or rugby league? We can stay strong, stay together on that, and keep pushing that forward. There’s certainly a lot of frustration throughout the whole game at the minute.”

Sharks veteran Cameron McInnes was equally flummoxed by some of the rulings on Saturday night.

“You just don’t know what you’re going to get, do you? I’ve been playing the game a long time, and I couldn’t tell you what they (the ruck infringements) are for,” he said.

“You feel like you run the ball and then the same thing happens to you and it doesn’t get called. I know it’s hard for the ref, but sometimes it just feels like it’s for the sake of it. That’s how it feels. It feels like it often goes against us.”

Referee Todd Smith had to call both captains over during the first half which also saw the Sharks reduced to 11 men at one stage.

The Storm were able to take advantage of the extra numbers to open up a 12-0 lead, but Sharks coach Craig Fitzgibbon had serious doubts over both tries.

The first looked like a clear forward pass from Nick Meaney to Hugo Peel, while the second saw the referee initially rule no try after Sua Fa’alogo grounded the Steeden close to the dead ball line.

Fitzgibbon’s gripe was that his side had a try incorrectly ruled out by the bunker a week ago when Addin Fonua-Blake appeared to have grounded the ball.

“If you don’t know what a forward pass looks like at this current point in your career, I don’t know either,” he said, with the Sharks to host the Cowboys in an elimination final next week.

“How many times have you seen a referee call a try and the bunker overturns the try?

“Two in two weeks. It’s not going to save where we’re at either. I just thought we played well enough to win the game today. You have that, and that, and that’s two weeks in a row.

“It’s not going to change what happens next week either. In fact, if I’m sooking about it, it might put pressure on us next week.

“But I don’t want to do that, because I don’t want to challenge the integrity of the game, but I’d like to see the integrity of the game remain what it should be.

“A forward pass is a forward pass. If you’re going to back the referee, back the referee. But don’t back him some weeks, and then turn around the week after and not do it, and then do it two weeks in a row. That’s a thing. That’s not up to me.”

Click here to read article