Trent Barrett was captured crying after been sack today…

The NRL is once again facing questions about the standard of officiating and the rules in general after the Parramatta Eels were on the wrong end of some dubious decisions against Newcastle. Mitchell Moses produced his second stunning display in the space of three days, but it wasn’t enough as the Knights scored a 34-26 victory in Newcastle.

However the Eels were left crying foul over a number of decisions that didn’t go their way – most notably when Blaize Talagi was ruled to have knocked the ball on when scoring a try. Replays showed Talagi initially grounded the ball short of the line before momentum took it over, and his hand never left contact with the ball.

But the Bunker official ruled that Talagi ‘rolled’ the ball over the try-line, which he said constitutes a knock-on. The decision was a matter of splitting hairs, with one frame showing the ball short of the line before the next frame showed it on the line. Both frames showed that Talagi’s hand was still on the ball, and many believed it was a fair try.

“As long as his body stays in I think that’s good,” Greg Alexander said in commentary for Fox Sports. “He just keeps his arm on the ball, never releases an arm, never comes away from it. Oh no! That’s a try there!”

Andrew Voss pointed out that Bunker official Wyatt Raymond was very quick to make his decision, rather than taking his time to have a good look at what happened. It seemed like another instance of the Bunker agreeing with the on-field call (which was no try) rather than actually making a decision for themselves.

“We thought that was a try,” Eels coach Trent Barrett said after the game. “There’s a few dubious decisions each week but we’re just not getting them at the moment, but we need them. It’s not a great position we’re in at the minute, and we needed that one.”