{"id":112168,"date":"2021-08-05T13:17:45","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T13:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=112168"},"modified":"2021-08-05T16:02:02","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T16:02:02","slug":"seething-fittler-roasts-ridiculous-bunker-call","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=112168","title":{"rendered":"Seething Fittler roasts 'ridiculous' Bunker call"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rugby league icon Brad Fittler<\/a> has unleashed a withering attack on the Bunker over its controversial decision to award Knights<\/a> second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon a try in the win over the Broncos<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bunker made the polarising decision in the 46th minute of Newcastle's 28-20 win over Brisbane, handing Fitzgibbon a try despite the fact Knights centre Bradman Best had held back Broncos winger Jamayne Isaako<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following a rampaging Tyson Frizell line-break that hauled the Knights deep into Broncos territory, Newcastle fullback Kalyn Ponga received the ball on the left edge and threaded a grubber into the in-goal area.<\/p>\n

And as Fitzgibbon steamed through to ground the ball, he was aided by Best pinning Isaako's arms from behind.<\/p>\n

"I can't believe (the) referee sat there and said … this is a try," Fittler said on Nine's post-match show.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

"Regardless of whether you think Isaako can get to the ball, Bradman is showing ill discipline and holding the player with his hands. It's a penalty every single day of the week. Regardless of whatever you think, if you can get to the ball or not or if it's close or whatever, Bradman is holding him. It doesn't matter if it's 20 metres away; you still can't hold him."<\/p>\n

\"NRL<\/p>\n

Former Jillaroo Ruan Sims<\/a> agreed with Fittler.<\/p>\n

"My understanding of the rule is that he's impeding that defender's opportunity's to play at the ball or at the player, so therefore I agree with you," Sims said.<\/p>\n

"It should have been a penalty."<\/p>\n

The Knights had taken a 12-8 buffer into the half-time break and the awarding of Fitzgibbon's try sparked three Newcastle four-pointers in succession, rocketing Adam O'Brien<\/a>'s men out to a 28-8 lead by the 63rd minute.<\/p>\n

The Broncos rallied, running in two converted tries to close the deficit to 28-20 by the 74th minute.<\/p>\n

But the Knights' second-half surge, fuelled by the Bunker's dubious call, had put Newcastle in a position that would prove unassailable.<\/p>\n

"That was ridiculous," Fittler said.<\/p>\n

"So dumb, crap decision."<\/p>\n

\"Brad<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/em><\/strong> clicking here!<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rugby league icon Brad Fittler has unleashed a withering attack on the Bunker over its controversial decision to award Knights second-rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon a try […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=112168"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112170,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112168\/revisions\/112170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=112168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=112168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=112168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}