Eels skipper Clint Gutherson lashes out at captain’s call loophole after Titans infuriated fans

Parramatta’s Clint Gutherson says he’s unsure when and how a captain’s challenge can be used in the NRL following the clash with Gold Coast.

The Eels held off a fast-finishing Titans at CBUS Super Stadium to secure a 26-20 win on Saturday but only after the hosts used an apparent loophole in the captain’s challenge system to their advantage.

Gold Coast twice deliberately conceded penalties to halt play and use their captain’s challenge successfully, firstly to reverse a Jarrod Wallace knock-on call and, in the second instance, to pull up an interference against centre Patrick Herbert during a break.

On both occasions the challenges were upheld and the Titans would go on to score tries in the resulting sets.

Gold Coast’s Patrick Herbert deliberately gave away a penalty so he could get the bunker to review a missed interference call against him. The challenge worked and the Titans scored off the resulting set of six 

Eels skipper Gutherson said he was confused by the situation given he was under the impression it wasn’t possible to halt play on purpose to challenge a referee’s call.

‘It was a bit weird. I was asking because I remember watching the game last week and the ref said to the captain, you can only challenge that last play – the penalty – not the play before which could be a knock-on, might be something else,’ Gutherson said.

‘Obviously it happened twice and pretty crucial, they scored off the back of both of them.

‘It’s obviously pretty inconsistent.’

Gold Coast halfback Toby Sexton gave away a penalty to get a captain’s call going in the 50th minute. 

Referee Peter Gough warned him, ‘If the challenge is unsuccessful you will go to the sin bin.’ 

But Gough’s decision to allow both challenges did seem to fly in the face of comments made by NRL head of football Graham Annesley at his weekly media briefing last Monday.

NRL head of football Graham Annesley (pictured) explicitly said teams are not allowed to create a stoppage to have a play reviewed  

Apparently referee Peter Gough (pictured sin binning Junior Paulo for a dangerous tackle) didn’t get Annesley’s memo, as he allowed the Titans to do just that – twice

‘A team can’t try to create a stoppage in order to challenge something that has previously been missed,’ Annesley said.

‘Some people will say it doesn’t matter as long as we get the right decision in the end but there has to be some parameters, otherwise we would have stoppages to play all the time.

‘Once they think they get a decision changed, they would just be coached to give away a penalty so they can go back and challenge the original decision.’

Fans were quick to take to social media to vent about the two stoppages.

Titans winger Phillip Sami (with ball) scored a try immediately after halfback Toby Sexton deliberately gave away a penalty to get a captain’s call for a knock-on by Reed Mahoney

Titans coach Justin Holbrook dodged questions about the loophole after the game

‘This is a joke,’ wrote one.

‘The NRL has hit a new low tonight. Two professional fouls by two Titans players to force a challenge for a previous call. Both should have gone for 10,’ another commented. 

‘I thought giving away deliberate penalties in the NRL to get a stoppage for a captain’s challenge was banned – or was that another 1 week thing like proper play-the-balls,’ wrote Brad Tallon. 

Titans coach Justin Holbrook said his players were backing themselves to challenge calls they felt were incorrect but admitted he’s not sure what the solution to the issue is.

‘It’s hard to answer,’ Holbrook said.

‘Look, the easy one is get it right the first time and we’re not doing all that stuff but I get it’s hard as well. There’s only one referee out in the middle.

‘I don’t know what the answer is.’