As the dust settles on a high octane NRL grand final, four players await their fates from the Match Review Committee after being placed on report in last night’s 26-22 Broncos win.
Reece Walsh, Ezra Mam, Brendan Piakura and Trent Loiero all caught the wrath of the match officials at Accor Stadium, however only Storm second rower Loiero saw the sin bin after a high shot in the closing minutes of the match.
Commentating for Channel Nine, former Storm legend Billy Slater expressed surprise Loiero was treated differently by referee Grant Atkins to the Broncos trio.
“There’s been about three sin-bins today if we’re going to be honest, we had Reece Walsh in the first half and Brendan Piakura hitting (Ryan) Papenhuyzen late,” Slater said, suggesting earlier in the season all of the incidents would have resulted in sin bins.
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Clive Churchill medalist Reece Walsh made high contact with Xavier Coates in the 20th minute of the match, while in the second half Ezra Mam caught Storm prop Stefano Utoikamanu in the back of the head.
Shortly after, Brendan Piakura crunched Ryan Papenhuyzen off the ball, while Trent Loiero was marched for returning the favour on Piakura with a high shot in the 78th minute that led to a brief on-field melee.
In addition to the four players officially reported, Storm skipper Harry Grant was also penalised for a second-half trip on Ezra Mam that may come under scrutiny this morning.
Any bans to Walsh or Grant could delay their involvement in the upcoming Ashes series in England—unless ‘selected’ for the PM’s XIII match in Port Moresby next Sunday afternoon.