The Tigers’ last minute steal of two competition points has put the Bunker back in the spotlight.
Meanwhile, the Rabbitohs are riding a fourth straight win thanks to the brilliance of Latrell Mitchell, while the Storm are heading in the opposite direction.
And Titans manager Justin Holbrook revealed he is looking for a key position that will help with the club’s inexperience.
Read on for all the key talking points from Round 19.
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Tino hits Tevita with a shoulder charge | 00:36
BUNKER UNDER FIRE FOR BIG CALLS
Calls for the bunker to be overhauled or scrapped will gain momentum after two muddled calls in the 19th round.
The first was the decision not to sanction Sharks skipper Dale Finucane for a high kick on Panthers center Stephen Crichton, despite him now seeking a sanction.
But Ashley Klein’s decision to award an escort penalty against Tigers center Asu Kepaoa to block Kyle Feldt and rob the Tigers of a win after the siren took the cake.
The fact that umpire Chris Buttler awarded a captain’s challenge despite there being no stoppage in play was baffling enough, but Klein’s call to award the escort penalty was simply wrong and marred the end of the undoubtedly the most entertaining game of the round.
Greg Alexander was outraged by the confusing decision.
“Oh my god… are you serious? Ashley Klein had a surprise in the box today, an absolute surprise,” Alexander said in disbelief.
“I was saying Kepaoa went sideways, that’s rubbish. He’s running towards the ball, that’s why he went sideways.
“Wow, that’s a massive call from the Bunker. He’s had some weird ones on both sides this afternoon.
“What I was trying to say earlier, Daine Laurie caught the ball. Where was the stop? Who stopped the play? The referee didn’t.
“He can only stop the game if he takes a penalty, so why was the game stopped? You can’t challenge when the game is flowing.
“I want to hear them (the NRL) talk that way.”
Matty Johns and the Sunday Night with Matty Johns panel were equally baffled by the crucial call.
“This is a bad decision,” Johns said.
“If you’re a Tigers fan, you’d be furious. It’s hard to believe. That game was in the bag.”
“That’s not right,” Bryan Fletcher said.
“It’s a bad decision because he goes for the ball. I don’t want to go in there in case I get arrested.”
“They’re both watching the ball,” Nathan Hindmarsh said.
“How is he changing direction? The Tigers have been robbed here.”
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Panthers outsmart energetic sharks | 02:07
Earlier in the weekend, the Bunker was back in the spotlight for controversial decisions, but this time because officials failed to take action.
In the confrontation between Panthers and Sharks there were two entries in the last 10 minutes that went unpunished.
The first was when Cronulla forward Dale Finucane flew off the line and crunched Stephen Crichton, his shoulder appearing to catch the Panthers star high.
Crichton was thrown to the ground and walked out literally missing a piece of his ear and never came back.
But the Bunker ruled that the contact was not Finucane’s high and did not penalize or report him.
At full-time, the center said he had no recollection of the match and was later taken to hospital for surgery on his horrific ear injury.
“There’s certainly an argument for a sloppy (tackle) that you could think about,” Panthers coach Ivan Cleary said after the game.
“I thought we’d at least get a penalty, that’s clearly contact with the head, it knocks him out.”
“I’m not exactly sure of the interpretations, but this is clearly head contact. knock him out It’s weird that this is okay, but softer touches sometimes aren’t okay.”
Finucane was charged with dangerous contact by the NRL’s match review committee on Sunday and faces at least a two-game ban.
The second incident happened with Cronulla coming off their own line and trailing 14-10 and Panthers center Viliame Kikau collected Connor Tracey with a blatant shoulder charge.
Tracey then twisted as he tried to get up and play the ball and with no penalty for the tackle, Penrith were awarded the scrum and soon scored the game-sealing try.
“There’s no wrap action,” Andrew Voss told Fox League.
Sharks captain Wade Graham asked referee Ashley Klein about the tackle, but was told the Bunker had ruled it out.
“It felt like a shoulder load. It looked really simple, but they said they checked it, so maybe I was looking at the wrong thing,” Graham said in his post-match press conference.
“I asked and he said they cleared it in the bunker. I saw the shot live and then the replay on the big screen, I thought so, but I could be wrong.”
Kikau was also charged Sunday with dangerous contact and will pay $1,500 with an early guilty plea.
FLYING Finucane’s success sees an exchange of fire! | 00:40
LATRELL SHINES WITH THE SOUTHERN BREAKING THE CURSE OF THE STORM
The Rabbitohs finally overcame their horror losing record against the Storm in a 24-12 result that secured their fourth win on the trot to break into the top six on the back of another Latrell Mitchell masterclass.
Cooper Cronk believes Mitchell’s efficiency and ability to make the right choices in limited touches without overdoing his hand makes Souths sing.
“That’s four wins in a row and six wins in the last seven for South Sydney and they’ve now moved up to sixth and overtaken Parramatta,” Cronk said.
“They’ve basically locked up a place in the finals now because there’s a four-point gap between them and the teams are stuck on 20 points.
“It was a very encouraging and professional performance. Usually when you see a good Souths performance they blow teams out of the water with their good ball attack but they kicked well and had a low number of failed tackles .
“They made all the high-percentage plays really well and made some big plays, especially through Latrell with three assists.
“Latrell has only had six 60-yard rushes, but the efficiency and impact when he decides to make a play and the ability to set up his outside men is off the charts.”
Corey Parker believes Mitchell has matured and knows his game inside out, which is rubbing off on his younger teammates.
“The Souths are growing in confidence and Latrell has come back and made a big difference to this team,” Parker said.
“On the back of that they’ve had four straight wins.
“He’s been huge and I think Latrell Mitchell now understands the influence he has in the group.
“He has spoken about it, but I have not seen it more clearly than since his return after this injury.
“We only see what we see on the field and this is game day, but the influence Cam Murray has spoken to Latrell during the week, that he demands excellence and has a stronger voice in training.
“The type of player he is and the position he plays and what he’s able to do on the pitch with his influence on his teammates and especially the younger guys is huge.”
Cronk won the premierships under Mitchell and has seen his former teammate develop as a player and leader at South Sydney, something that should worry the rest of the competition.
“That’s Latrell’s maturity and evolution,” Cronk said.
“When I played with Latrell, he always had that 10-for-10 game, but sometimes you had to poke him or push him or move him in the direction of playing well and speaking his mind.
“Everyone who has represented South Sydney in recent weeks has said the same thing about Latrell.
“He’s back with energy and revitalization. His body language is great. In meetings he’s talking. In the game he leads people.
“When you have that guy in the sweet spot of his career telling people where to go and then coming up with impact plays. He had three assists with limited touches so the guy just knows where to be and what to do.
“I think it’s a very scary thing for the rest of the competition that Souths are pulling it all together right now.”
The bunnies break the curse to defeat Storm | 03:28
HAAS SUPERHUMAN EXHIBITION
Payne Haas showed why he is one of the best forwards in the game on Thursday night, dominating the Eels in a complete performance.
The 22-year-old missed the State of Origin decider with a twisted shoulder but was clearly ready to go when called upon, scoring a try from 20 metres.
Patrick Carrigan unloaded the ball to Haas, who looked up and took off, bursting through the defensive line to record a four, leaving the commentators stunned.
“Payne Haas … it’s almost impossible to stop a retreating defense with a head of steam like him,” Fox League’s Cooper Cronk said.
“That’s where the team blew up,” Warren Smith said.
Haas finished the night with 216 rushing metres, eight tackles and a try, and coach Kevin Walters couldn’t help but praise his impressive display.
“He’s an elite player. He was chomping at the bit to get out there,” Walters said.
“Obviously he sat through the last Origin game, watching it, he wouldn’t have been too happy with what happened with NSW.
“He’s wearing a Broncos jersey tonight, we’re so grateful to have him out there.
“He kept plowing through them which was great to see and defensively he was very strong as well.”
Walters too…