Midway through Manly’s match against the Titans, Atkins summoned Cherry-Evans in his side’s 20, following the Origin star apparently questioned him too many occasions.
The veteran referee had clearly had enough and decided to set the record straight.
“You have given (away) three penalties down here and I reckon on every one of them, you’ve desired to question it,” Atkins said.
But the ref stood his ground, saying:”The matter of the fact (sic) is that I am not going to sit here and have you dare it all day. You have to accept the decision and proceed.”
The blow-up was not over there, though, with the set intention on bickering to hilarious effect.
“Alright partner. You are the one that’s stopping play,” explained Cherry-Evans as he left the scene.
Atkins could not resist adding:”You continue giving (penalties) away, mate.”
“Atkins wins the debate, he is the referee, he is accountable for Daly. Someone needs to be in charge and it can’t be the captain of a single side,” said Fox League’s Andrew Voss in his call of this game.
“Yeah, but if you are the captain, aren’t you allowed to ask the question?” Asked Balmain great Steve Roach.
“I found it quite funny, the exchange, but I am on the face of the referee.
Roach then challenged whether Cherry-Evans had intentionally been talking back into the referee in an effort to slow the play down.
It was a tale of this master and apprentice fullbacks about the Gold Coast and remarkably it was Titans rookie Jayden Campbell who for some time threatened to have the last laugh at Manly’s Tom Trbojevic.
No surprise though, when hat-trick hero Trbojevic went through the gears in the second half of his ball playing strength and genius to the forefront, it had been Manly that hauled back from a 24-8 half-time deficit to win 56-24.
It was a fullback shootout in the first half with rookie Campbell almost saying to Trbojevic:”Whatever you can do… so could I.”
The Titans scored the first try of the game when Campbell latched on a Tyrone Peachey kick but Trbojevic hit with two trademark tries, the second with a giant jump ignited by turbo boosters at which he uttered the ball out of youthful Campbell’s grasp. Campbell then put up two attempts with grubbers and also the Gold Coast led 24-8.
Trbojevic possessed the second half like few players in the history of this game.
Trbojevic gave Garrick another saloon passage into the line, and then — surprise, surprise — he did it and the Sea Eagles hit the direct, 32-24. After Trbojevic stormed through the center of the field such as a runaway rhino to notch his third hat-trick to the Sea Eagles, the Titans were done.
Trbojevic, at a sign of the criteria he places, was much less bullish about his display when asked where it rated in his career.
“If you had asked at half-time, maybe not well,” he said.
“I was disappointed we allow five attempts in off kicks and as a fullback you do not like to see but we clearly reacted well in the second half and won it 48-0.
“I’ve a lot of faith in this team and feel really good in my playing my role. You look at that second-half, we were near perfect so that it could be a building block moving forward.”
Amazing debate over
Nathan Cleary. James Tedesco. Cameron Munster. Take your choice, but if debating who’s the best player in the match, Tom Trbojevic is not possible to go beyond.
This”greatest” debate reignited if Tommy Turbo jumped like no one else can to snaffle his second try in two moments at the first half.
Fox League commentator Andrew Voss said Trbojevic”ticks every box” to lay claim to being the best right now.
“If you look at only this year… he needs to be,” fellow commentator Steve Roach said.
“I did not think we would ever see a second Billy Slater but who is to say as his livelihood goes on that he isn’t likely to be better.”
Maroons and Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans weighed to the fantastic debate following the win.
“Tom has my vote,” Cherry-Evans said.
“He is outstanding and works so hard on his game. We’re obviously going to discuss how good he is with the footy but he is good defensively too. He’s in a purple patch of form at the moment but I believe it is sustainable. I don’t think it is just a tiny spike in his career.”
Cherry-Evans is hoping that spike strikes a decrease next Sunday in Game Two of the Origin series after his Manly teammate ripped the Maroons to shreds from the Blues big 50-6 win in Game One.
“He had been a significant part of their triumph off the back of a real powerful display by their forward, but we’ll learn from this,” Cherry-Evans explained.
Garrick the great
Winger Garrick combined a laundry list of the best Manly players of all time such as Bob Fulton, Steve Menzies and Ken Irvine using four attempts for the match, just one short of winger Les Hanigan’s club record of five set in 1967. Remarkably, his match haul of 28 points might have been far greater if he’d brought his kicking boots, but in the wash-up that didn’t matter one iota.
After Jayden Campbell debuted to the Titans in around 13 he became, together with his old guy Preston, the first son/father combo to play to the Titans. Jayden’s debut NRL try was one to savour for the Campbell clan when he adopted a Tyrone Peachey grubber to score the opening try.
“He’s taking off precisely where his father left ,” Fox League commentator Corey Parker said.
The early indications are promising with the younger Campbell playing with the stamina, instinct and razzle which Preston made his signature.
Following Trbojevic stole the ball from his arms, Campbell did not flinch the following time the ball went up and leapt without a dread to return the match on Jason Saab.
His sublime grubber kick for Greg Marzhew has been followed by a second, via a deflection, for Patrick Herbert to dent in one of the most accomplished first halves you would see with a rookie.
Maroons go lost
The barnstorming shows of Queensland duo David Fifita and Tino Fa’asuamaleaui eventually gave Maroons coach Paul Green something to smile about after information of Queensland hooker Harry Grant’s hamstring injury broke just before kick-off.
The Titans duo, kept quiet by NSW at Game One, were prominent in the opening stanza from the Sea Eagles with both running for more than 100m and Fifita scoring a try.
In the second half, like the rest of their teammates, the set went missing in actions mainly because they could not get their hands on the football.
Coach Justin Holbrook was a dejected man after his side’s capitulation.
“Right from the beginning of the second half that they got on top and we could not do a thing to stop it,” he explained.
“They did not know what they were doing, and it showed defensively. We have let ourselves down and everyone involved with our team.
“It’s unacceptable. It is the lowest I’ve felt seeing this second half unfold. It was dreadful.”
