Meltdowns among the miracles
A late Bryson Goodwin penalty has secured the South Sydney Rabbitohs a controversial but gutsy 18-17 win over the Canterbury Bulldogs at the Olympic stadium.
Trent Hodkinson looked to have won the grand final replay with a field goal three minutes from time, but chaos erupted a minute later as the Bulldogs lost the plot.
The Rabbitohs’ Adam Reynolds’s field goal attempt saw James Graham take out the half-back’s leg, resulting in a report for the captain.
But the decision sparked both Graham and David Klemmer into mental meltdown as they harrangued the referee, with the pair sin-binned before Goodwin converted the penalty to steal a win for South Sydney.
Curtis Rona and Sam Perrett’s tries put the Bulldogs 10-0 up in the first half, before Issac Luke scored a minute before the half-time siren, but copped a nasty kick to the head from Josh Morris in the process.
The contact left Luke concussed and saw an eight-point try awarded against the Bulldogs to make it 10-8 at half-time.
Morris rubbed salt in the Bunnies’ wounds with a try 10 minutes into the second stanza, only for David Tyrell to tighten up the match for the Rabbitohs, before Hodkinson’s field goal sparked a furiously controversial final few minutes.
More to come.