It turned out to be the crucial moment for the storm’s victory over the taps, but no one noticed. At least nobody who was important.
After one point behind, Melbourne got a short kick back in the last 30 seconds and worked their way back into the field goal position. Ryan Papenhuyzen snatched up the one-hand lead and sent the match into the Golden Point Extra. Time.
On closer inspection, however, it is clear that something was wrong in the ball game before the match-tying game – a fact that soon surfaced on social media as fans eagle-eyed screen shots of a moment justified further investigation, justifying further investigation.
Fox Sports presenter Adam Peacock was a lonely voice in the media polling the game and ending a tweet commenting on the high quality of the game: “(But, um, Brandon Smith dropped that before the last ball game ?) “”
Kiwi international Smith did his utmost to get up quickly and jerk quickly, but he abused the ball and almost knocked it.
After some fans saw the social media response after the game and described a “blast”, Wide world of sport Let our video experts work to check the all-important game and the result. You can see this by clicking on the video at the top of this article, speaks for itself.
In normal time, the game is extremely difficult to see because the camera angle changes quickly to capture Papenhuyzen’s goal attempt.
That may explain why it was overlooked by the broadcasters. Nine and Fox Sports commentators describe the game without asking about the ball game.
The referee and other referees also missed it and it was not a topic of discussion in the press conference after one of the two coaches.
Even the Roosters players seemed to miss the possible violation without complaining to the officials, although the field goal would have been crossed over, a victory would have been in their care.
If the Roosters players had noticed the violation, there is confusion as to whether they could have used a captain’s challenge to overthrow the field goal. An NRL insider said Wide world of sport that it would have been too late to face a challenge after the field goal landed even though the knocking had taken place in the ball game.
The game was crucial to the outcome, and the storm won the match in extra time.
Cameron Smith sealed the win when he scored a light penalty on the doorstep after Rooster’s hooker Jake Friend betrayed a violation that was trying to slow the storm’s attack. In a way, an anti-climactic end to a dramatic competition that will go down as the match of the year.
