In what is now Daly Cherry-Evans’ NRL record-breaking 310th game, the Manly Sea Eagles stunned the Penrith Panthers, the defending premiers.
Cherry-Evans made history for the Sea Eagles by eclipsing Cliff Lyons, the club legend, to become Manly’s most-capped player. Still, there was some disagreement around Manly’s 32–18 triumph.
The crucial play was made by Tolutau Koula in the 34th minute, who took advantage of a mistake made by the Panthers and raced 90 meters to score a controversial try.
People were shocked when referee Gerard Sutton decided to let play continue even though bunker official Peter Gough had missed it. Although Panthers coach Ivan Cleary acknowledged, “It was one of about five or six intercepts we threw so it was a bad play by us in the first place,” he was clearly displeased.
“Everyone in the stadium knew it was a knock on.”
In line with Cleary’s observations, Panthers captain Isaah Yeo stated that the group anticipated a knock-on call.
“I guess the feeling was that we thought it was a knock on,” Yeo said.
However, as Ivan mentioned, even our response following that. We were disappointed when they scored a try, but after that, we lost all control and stopped raising our hands for extended periods of time.”
The representatives from NSW and Australia hinted that it wasn’t the only factor in their defeat.
“Every time we attempted to resume the arm wrestle, we would make a mistake or forfeit a point. We didn’t lose because of that [choice], Yeo acknowledged.
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