"The NRL referees boss says the bunker was right to award Billy Slater a "drop kick" try in Melbourne's 34-20 win against Brisbane despite the Storm fullback claiming he had knocked on.
Bernard Sutton backed the officials' call that Slater intentionally drop kicked the ballbefore scoring in the 10th minute at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Slater dropped the ball when shaping to kick close to the line but still toed it ahead to claim a try. But Slater didn't get excited after pouncing on the ball and tried to cut short his teammates' celebrations, telling them he had knocked on".
He could have done this 10 m out and it would still be a try.
When viewing the footage, Billy appearedto take possession of the ball cleanly and then intentionally drop kick the ball in an instant. That's the way it appeared to the refs (and me). I'm far from being a Storm fan, but I called it a try before the refs.
Are the refs supposed to go and ask Billy if it was his intention to drop kick the ball? He drop kicked it and scored a try, end of story as far as I'm concerned and I've been watching the game for 55 yrs.
