Stefano Utoikamanu avoids charge as Raiders' win over Storm sullied by controversy

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05-05-2025

Magic Round mostly avoided the sort of refereeing controversy that many feared would rear its ugly head.
There were strange calls such as Ronaldo Mulitalo's spectacular effort against the Eels that shouldn't have warranted a penalty but did. And, if it did, should have been a penalty try, but wasn't.
Even in that instance, both teams got a little lucky, so we move on.
Most importantly, the high-tackle crackdown that undeniably poisoned round eight was by the wayside. It meant some shots went without penalties — a simple fact of life in a quickfire contact sport accepted by all but the most putrid homers — and the games flowed like they should.
But it turns out we were just saving all the drama up for the final game on Sunday as
Gerard Sutton sent two players to the sin-bin in golden point.
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Getty Images: Hannah Peters
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The Raiders came out with a game plan to aggravate the Storm with typically aggressive line speed and some extras in the tackle, and it worked a treat, especially in the biggest moments.
The penalties against Trent Loiero and Stefano Utoikamanu for lashing out at tacklers with the ball in a match-winning position are the sort of 50/50 decisions that may well have gone the other way at the opposite end of the field.
Loiero came down on Joe Tapine and Utoikamanu dragged his foot into Tom Starling as both Raiders were hanging on in the ruck with the Storm set up for game-winning field goals.
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"We're playing rugby league. You're trying to get a quick play of the ball. It's a tough thing to swallow," Ryan Papenhuyzen told ABC Sport.
"
[Utoikamanu's] gonna be on report for that and watch him get off it. … Probably shouldn't have said that.
"
Papenhuyzen's prediction proved correct on Monday morning as Utoikamanu and Loiero both escaped sanctions from the match review committee, but they won't be so lucky in the team's review session.
"We do have to be better. That's the way they're going to officiate the game now and we've got to respond to that," Papenhuyzen added.
The simple fact is both Storm players allowed themselves to be rattled and it cost their team the game.
Trent Loiero asked the referee what he was supposed to do to avoid giving away the match-losing penalty.
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Getty Images: Chris Hyde
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Loiero is nibbling around the edges of State of Origin selection but if he can't keep his composure in that sort of game, Billy Slater will have reservations about picking a man likely to spontaneously combust in the pressure of Origin.
Utoikamanu has been in that arena, but that 2023 debut feels like a lifetime ago. The 24-year-old is starting to build some form and couldn't be in a better system for his development.
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He needs to respond to coach Craig Bellamy, who after the game said Big Stef might have been the only player he's ever seen give away two penalties as the attacking player in a game, both in prime attacking positions at crucial moments.
"If he was in the wrong, he needs to pick his discipline up," Bellamy told reporters.
"It's unlike anyone, it is. You show me a bloke that gives away two penalties when he's got the ball in the game, I'm thinking you're not looking at too many people.
"
And to do it in the one game, it cost us, it cost us dearly. We just need to be a bit more disciplined.
"
To focus solely on the controversial, game-deciding but not explicitly wrong decisions would be a disservice to a contest that was one of the matches of the year.
Melbourne's attack was typically scintillating and, for perhaps the first time this season, the defence just about matched it.
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Sua Fa'alogo, one of the most promising young players in the league, had the most complete performance of his career, playing a crucial hand in all three Storm tries, including scoring the final one.
For the Raiders, Kaeo Weekes proved the game-breaker with his gorgeous chip-and-chase try in the wet, but Hudson Young, Joe Tapine and Jamal Fogarty all had dominant outings.
Ricky Stuart's side showed their usual grit as they came back from another early deficit to claim a fourth-straight win.
And with three of those victories coming against Canterbury, Cronulla and now Melbourne, we can do away with the idea that this team is anything less than a premiership contender.
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