KEY POINTS:
Ivan Cleary might come across as a technophobe but his views on the video referee are spot on.
Friday saw three contentious decisions from up high, two of them going the way of the Roosters and one to the Warriors.
Most dramatically, Anthony Minichiello was awarded a penalty try when he and Lance Hohaia tussled for a ball in the in-goal, a decision even Roosters' coach Brad Fittler conceded was 50-50.
Steve Clark then ruled the wing Aidan Kirk held up over the line when it would have been just as easy to have ruled try. Finally the dice fell the way of the Warriors when Ian Henderson was ruled to have grounded the ball in a bit of a scramble. Henderson would later tell the Herald on Sunday that even he wasn't totally sure he'd scored. "It might have been on someone's foot initially but then I felt it slip down the side of it and I was pretty confident I still had my finger on it. That's all you need - finger on canvas on grass."
Cleary has been a consistent advocate of the on-field ref making the calls and his case was bolstered. The video ref is surely there to provide irrefutable proof for incidents not seen on the field but whether the technology is not up to it or the people watching the technology are not up to it, that is clearly not happening.
"I've been saying all year, I'm not a fan of the video ref and tonight, personally, I just think it's an absolute lottery," Cleary said. "There were two blokes going for the ball, in a do-or-die game - how it was a deliberate foul, I can't see. I'm just really glad it didn't affect the outcome of the game," he said of the penalty try.
"I just think when it goes to the video, [nobody has any] idea what's going to happen. That's not what it's for. It's there to make sure everything's right."
Hooker Ian Henderson risked the wrath of the hirsute gods last night when he appeared freshly shorn for the semifinal win against the Roosters.
Henderson had sported arguably the most impressive face-do during these times of follicle expansion, but a soup-strainer moustache was all that was left against the Roosters.
"I just needed a bit of a change," he said. "It was getting out of control."
While the superstitious would have left well alone - the Warriors' golden run has coincided with their razors going on strike - Henderson had noticed team-mates taking sneaky trims and decided to follow suit.
"The boys were giving themselves all sorts of styles so I thought 'why not do a bit of manicuring of mine'."
Henderson's was not so much a manicure as taking a weed-whacker to his face.
Friday night was another in a series of natural highs for Brent Tate, still basking in the afterglow of becoming a father for the first time.
Tate's wife Lani gave birth to Kyden on August 26, potentially qualifying him for the Kiwis despite his father's Queensland heritage.
"It's been hectic at home with the new one but that's been a really nice distraction," Tate said.
