Wakefield Trinity versus Hull KR was the latest Super League game to go well past the two-hour mark with Trinity boss Daryl Powell pointing to referee Aaron Moore losing his cool as one explanation for what he dubbed a ‘crazy’ game.
Trinity came out on top in a 26-24 thriller but the talk post-match has revolved mainly around several contentious decisions made by Aaron Moore, particularly in the first half where Wakefield seemed to miss out on most of the close calls.
Speaking post-match in his presser, shared on the Wakefield Trinity YouTube channel, Powell said: “Heaven only knows what was going on in the second half, or the first half for that matter.
“I just felt like it was a crazy game. I thought the first half was mad. I thought the referee lost his cool and I feel like that impacted on his decision-making.”
Powell even revealed that he’d send his trainer on to try and urge captain Mike McMeeken to calm Moore down, stating: “I was sending messages out to Mike just to calm the ref down a bit if you can, I just thought the game was carnage at one point.”
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Wakefield Trinity overcome ‘mental’ second-half
Both Mason Lino and Joe Burgess were sent to the sin bin at the same time and with both sides losing a man, perhaps neither could truly argue against the decisions but the five minutes after that saw a number of big calls go against Wakefield.
Cam Scott thought he had intercepted and taken the ball the distance only for Aaron Moore to rule that a Wakefield player had knocked the ball on, with the resulting captain’s challenge being inconclusive. That gave Hull KR a set in good ball, which Wakefield defended by pushing Peta Hiku into touch, however, Moore controversially awarded the Robins a penalty, from which they scored.
Reflecting on that call, Powell said: “The one where we put them into touch, he never topped moving and I don’t think it was too far, but they score on the back of that.
“Then the second-half, I just thought was mental and I don’t think we handled it well until the back end, which I thought was class execution.”
The second-half saw both sides have a player sent off, first Wakefield’s Matty Storton for a tackle that Moore did not penalise in real time but was later deemed a red after a video referee review, with Hull KR’s Sauaso Sue seeing red two minutes later for a clear swinging arm.
On the Storton red, Powell said: “It’s not a send-off for me, I think the swinging arm (Sauaso Sue’s red) probably is. I’ll have to have a look back, I’ve seen the replays but I need to look in a bit more detail.
“It doesn’t appear to me that he strikes him in the head so I can’t understand that. I don’t think people are getting sent off for them, I don’t, so that was surprising.”
Both men will nervously await Monday’s Match Review Panel to find out if they land suspensions.
