Penrith coach Ivan Cleary blasts ‘ridiculous’ bunker call during Panthers’ win over Bulldogs

Ivan Cleary has claimed the jury is out on whether the bunker prevents or creates poor refereeing decisions after a “ridiculous” call in Penrith’s defeat of Canterbury .

The four-time premiership-winning coach also slammed a “dumb play” from rival forward AJ Jones, but was most incensed by an earlier decision that denied Tom Jenkins a first-half try.

An airborne Jenkins reefed the ball out of Jacob Kiraz’s grasp in the 24th minute of Friday’s 24-10 win and looked to have touched down for his 29th try of the year.

But the bunker supported referee Gerard Sutton’s on-field call of no try.

Kiraz was ruled to have caught Nathan Cleary’s kick in the in-goal, meaning Jenkins could not contest possession and go on to score.

But coach Cleary pondered whether Kiraz had actually maintained possession long enough to constitute a fair catch.

“Do you reckon it passed the pub test, that one? Nah, it’s ridiculous,” he said.

“If he caught the ball, with no-one around him in the air, then landed and dropped it, what would happen?”

The call swung momentum to the Bulldogs, who would have been trailing by at least 10-0 had Jenkins been awarded his try.

Instead, Canterbury rolled upfield where Matt Burton crossed to cut the deficit to two points.

“It was just ridiculous, honestly. That was a huge call because they get a penalty and then they score. Frustrating,” Cleary said.

Cleary, who previously worked as a referees’ consultant in between coaching jobs, pondered whether the bunker was still fit for purpose.

“I guess it’s everyone’s own opinion on whether the bunker is getting things enough right,” Cleary said.

“If we just go back to the original reason why we got it in the first place was to stop the howlers.