Leading referee Ashley Klein has come under immense scrutiny, after he allowed play to continued despite a clearly concussed Sean Keppie laying on the ground.
Early in the preliminary final clash between the South Sydney Rabbitohs and Manly Sea Eagles, Keppie was knocked out after coming into contact with Mark Nicholls' hip.
The 23-year-old attempted to get to his feet and return to the defensive line, but stumbled right next to where the play-the-ball was about to take place.
But somehow, Klein missed it completely and allowed play to continue for another two plays before eventually stopping play at the advice of the trainer.
Obviously plenty of focus on this of late, & the refs don’t have it easy, but tough to see play continue for a further 40 seconds after this incident with Sean Keppie (#16). Was even forced into an attempted tackle before play stopped. Failed his HIA, hope he’s OK #NRLSouthsManly pic.twitter.com/k0uYylFiUb
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) September 24, 2021
Deserves to be sat for a few games for this. To have a guy stumbling like this right in front of you and not pausing the game is gross incompetence.#NRLSouthsManly pic.twitter.com/ltBSYMSbck
— Braden (@Bradenjbrady) September 24, 2021
See what people get for all that whingeing?
— Karate Warrior II (@me_dc) September 24, 2021
A clearly concussed player attempts a tackle, even though the game should have been stopped 15-20 seconds earlier.
Referee spooked from last week. Absolutely disgusting that play wasn’t stopped then #NRLSouthsManly
— Jack Brady (@JackBraydes) September 24, 2021
Klein completely clueless - scary he could have the GF next week.
— The Mole (@9_Moley) September 24, 2021
Why can’t the refs just get it right with the timing of stopping the game cos of injury! It honestly can’t be that hard. Keppie is stumbling right in the ruck and you don’t stop it but you’ll stop it when the player is 30 metres away. Ffs @MasonsTake #masonstake
— Willie Mason WMM 💯🇦🇺🇹🇴 (@mase21) September 24, 2021
After a week that saw Penrith trainer Pete Green suspended due to an indiscretion involving Mitch Kenny, there was always going to be eyes on the officials and trainers in regards to injury stoppages.
But for an experienced whistleblower like Klein, there's no excuse for missing something so evident and potentially putting an already concussed player in harms' way.
Keppie was ruled out by Manly doctors immediately and will not return during the game.
Manly coach Des Hasler was asked about the incident after the 36-16 defeat, and admitted the NRL need to look into fixing things after the events of the past week.
“They were always going to go one way or the other," he said.
"Last week was probably cost a side a semi-final spot, that’s what Parramatta were saying with not being able to play on, and then you get this week. It’s got to be looked at during the off-season.
"I understand both sides of the argument, but there’s a fine line. There’s a duty of care and I think they might look at the orange shirt only, who is the person out there who is trained to read medical situations, might be mic’d or linked back to the doctor.
"If you leave a player lying there, who knows what that player is suffering at that time. I dare say if he stopped play, there would have been the same – they’ve got to explore it and look at it.
“They were on a hiding to nothing – it didn’t have too much impact on the game."