Don’t forget about the ridiculous sin binning of Cronk though. Professional foul my .

He tackled the man off the ball two metres from the try line. Sin bin all day long.

You don’t get special treatment because you’re Cooper Cronk.

Hardly tackled him though did he? IMO, penalty was fair, sin binning was harsh.

You probably need to watch it again.

Hardly tackled him? Managed to knock a bloke about 4 stone heavier than him to the ground. Sin binning was harsh but in that situation he potentially stopped a try from being scored. Say a split second later he isn't able to grip him as well and he has caught the ball - he potentially goes over for a try. That's why it was a professional foul. If it would have happened on the halfway line of coruse it wouldn't have been a sin bin.

The Canberra player had the ball when he was “knocked to the ground”. I’ll concede that Cronk had made contact before the ball reached him but didn’t actually tackle him without the ball. Which is why I thought the penalty was fair and sin bin harsh. I’ll watch it back though.

Great game and a great atmosphere which was slightly ruined by the officials with that poor call of waving six to go, Also what i did notice was blatant holding on at the tackle every time over here penalty ever time.

Cronk made contact with the arm of the raiders prop just before the ball reached him which caused him not to collect the ball hence the knock on, penalty for me not a sin bin, the waving for 6 to go was disgraceful at any level and then went down the other end and scored, a massive call.

Correct. I thought Roosters were very lucky to get away with a few holding on calls. There was one glaring moment in the second half when Riaders were coming out of their own 30 when a Roosters player cjust stayed in the ruck and it slowed it down so much that the dummy half took an age to get the ball and he was tackeld about 2 metres behind where he picked it up. It was the most blatant pen you will see for not clearing the ruck but no penalty was given. I notice this week in week out in NRL reffing they seem to ignore the rules of the game so that the game "can flow". Roosters' defence was great and a nice bit bit of class for their second try.

Thought two fairly evenly matched teams today roosters got the rub of the green on the night and with two blatant poor ref decisions always was going to be a roosters win doesnt help having two sydney based refs obviously trophy was going to stay with them

Ref changing the decision was poor but they got it right in the end, should never have been 6 to go. Some of the raiders players heard the second call hence the offloads. Also its not like it was the next play Roosters still had to go 90m to score. Canberra had their fair share of the calls, like the Whitehead clear knock on somehow given penalty in the set before the dubious sin-binning but it was them failing to capitalise on the field position especially when they had the man advantage is what cost them.

Three refs next?

Indeed - the myth that the NRL have solved the officiating conundrum has just been well and truly busted; two massive howlers that have effectively busted open a tight game, and directly influenced the result.

Josh Papali scores those short range tries for fun, so I would have thought CC see's 10 mins in bin as a very good outcome.Admittedly not a lot of contact, but a foul nevertheless, and enough to stop a probable try.A penalty try maybe too far fetched, but a sin binning definitely.

I’m not a Raiders fan but they certainly got the majority of the shabby calls from the officials.

Whiteheads charge down that hit the smirking water carrier would, Im pretty sure, have resulted in a try under the posts.

I thought the Papalii incident was a penalty try, the VR said he couldn’t be sure he would have reached the try line. Well there was maybe 4m to go and no defender directly in front of him so I’m sure he would.

The six to go call was atrocious, anyone who’s played the game knows that it robbed Canberra of the opportunity to turn the screw on the Roosters. A kick to the in goal or even a Roosters first tackle just outside would have kept Canberra in the ascendancy. Instead you’ve got the Raiders slightly out of defensive shape and unfocused due to the perceived injustice. That’s all it takes at that level for a quality team to make a line break!

The rules state that the Referee can not change his decision unless foul play is brought to his attention, so the Referee was wrong to change.

There is precedence for the appropriate action should the Ref deem that he’s got it wrong and interfered with the flow of the game. The decision in that instance is to call for a Scrum which would have provided the time for Canberra to clear their minds and organise their defence.

Whichever side you come down on, for a clubs whole seasons efforts and a Grand Final locked on the scoreboard to be decided by a Referees gaff is very disappointing and a bit embarrassing

You cannot say with any certainty that the chargedown would have led to a try. It's a rubbish rule but it was applied correctly. Different issue but there's no way the trainers should be on the pitch as much as they are.

The CC incident IMO was a penalty. A split second out from being perfectly timed. Sin bin was harsh, penalty try would have been ludicrous.

Agree about the ref not being able to change his mind and it doesn't look good but there's two refs - what do you do when they disagree. They made the right call in the end. Play was stopped and Canberra had time to set their line. They had ample possession and field position to score. Roosters defence and a moment of brilliance from Latrell is what won that game, not a refereeing decision.

What a great game the final was the first half was brilliant

What an utter shame Canberra lost the match from a shocking call from the ref

Clearly waved the tackle count clean then once tackle complete called a turnover

Really really bad from normally a very good ref

Cronk tackle was clearly before he got the ball
With the pace JP took the ball at and where he was relative to the line for me would have being a try and should have being a penalty try

On the charge down soliola made an exceptional effort to charge the ball down and took a full paced ball to the face

Advantage should always go to those that have earned it IMO

Whitehead wouldn’t have gone the length of the pitch but Canberra should have had scrum attack to them

A moment of brilliance, created by a referee error; had the ref not sold the Raiders a pup with his 6 to go then quick reversal, that opportunity would not have arisen.

The smirk from the water carrier said it all.

But how many moments of brilliance would we not have seen in any game ever if the refs got every call correct. If the ref got the Whitehead knock on correct CC would never have been sin binned and who knows how different the game would have been. It's not like a blatant knock on/offside etc has been given as a try, it was a different set of 6.

As I pointed out earlier, the rules state that the referee cannot change his decision unless prior foul play is involved. The Referee broke the rules by changing his mind but he’s only human and can make a mistake. However, having made the mistake he should have called for a scrum.

Was that rule re-written when they introduced two refs? Because what happens when they make a different call?

Assuming that still applies then it is an even worse mistake, but.. get on with it. When we let Liam Marshall run the length from that 20m restart this season, that was the same play so much worse. Obviously not as much at stake but still these things happen. Yes ref made some poor decisions and its disappointing but not the reason the game was lost.

It’s the rule in both ESL & NRL

My understanding is that each ref deals with a different thing, so they wouldn't be making different calls on the same thing - if that makes sense?

On your point about the CC sin-binning - he clearly tackled the man without the ball; it was a professional foul, and although I thought a sin-binning was harsh, it was technically the right call.

There is no defence for the referee changing his mind after calling 6 to go; he just got it wrong and in my view, it totally changed the game - which is a real shame at a showcase event, which was tight as a drum up to that point.

And i'd backed a field goal which was more likely at 8-8