Confession about Reece Walsh and Hudson Young incident that will infuriate Raiders fans

The NRL has reportedly admitted Ashley Klein's decision to penalise the Raiders for the Reece Walsh and Hudson Young incident was wrong, but backed the ref's decision to sin-bin Young. And league officials are standing by the under-fire referee for the remainder of the finals.

Walsh and Young were both sent to the bin during the Broncos' win over the Raiders in Sunday's qualifying final, after Young got in Walsh's face and sparked the Brisbane fullback to retaliate by head-butting him. Fans and commentators were incensed that Young was marched, but the NRL has now stated it was the right call.

However the NRL has admitted the penalty shouldn't have gone to the Broncos because Walsh's act of foul play should have superseded everything. Phil Rothfield reported on NRL 360 on Monday night: “The concession I got out of the NRL today...they have now admitted that Canberra should have got the penalty.

“And people describe it like this. If you’ve got a dickhead act, which is Hudson Young behaving like he did and you’ve got a head-butt, which is blatant foul play, the foul play far outweighs the dickhead. And it was a crucial time of the game and they got the penalty wrong.

“They tell me that was Klein’s decision. The Bunker had a look at it, but it was Klein’s decision to penalise Canberra for an in-your-face act of stupidity. And you know football players, like Hudson Young, and you’re never going to stop it, are always going to applaud a mistake like that and get in an opponents’ face.”

Ashley Klein still on track to referee NRL grand final

However Rothfield said he's been told Klein will still be refereeing one of the two semi-finals this weekend and is on trackt to control the grand final. "Ash Klein got a pass mark out of this game and will be controlling one of the two finals this weekend,” Rothfield said. “It was a tough game to referee. 94 minutes is tough.”

But Broncos legend Gorden Tallis scoffed at that suggestion and said he believes Klein was wrong to sin-bin Young as well. “He got the sin-binning wrong,” Tallis said. "If you’re going to get sin-binned now for celebrating and getting in players’ faces, there won’t be a player every week.

“When players get in players' faces, how many times do we watch it? We don’t like it, but he’s allowed to do that. Hudson Young did nothing wrong. That is not a sin-bin-able offence. And Reece Walsh, should he have got sin-binned? Yeah maybe.”

Journalist Brent Read added: “I think the NRL’s view is that Hudson Young initiated contact, he didn’t just get in his face, he initiated contact with him. (But) I’m with you. I don’t think it’s a sin-bin. I don’t think he should have been sin-binned.”

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Wade Graham and Allana Ferguson blast Hudson Young penalty

Former NRL star Wade Graham said on Triple M earlier in the day: "I think Ashley Klein got it wrong and the penalty should have gone Canberra's way. Reece should have got 10 in the bin and Hudson should have stayed on the field. That was a complete over-reaction.

"For him to say that you're not allowed to say words to him and stir him up in a high-stakes game full of emotion - that's kids stuff. Let the men out there finish the game."

Former Jillaroos star Allana Ferguson expressed the same sentiments on Channel 9. "Hudson Young has to leave and gets the same penalty in a final, when everything is on the line, as someone who head-butts, for talking," she said. "We're playing rugby league for christ's sake ... that's ridiculous."

Walsh has escaped suspension and will be free to play in the preliminary final in two weeks' time. He was instead hit with $4800 in fines for two incidents from the game.

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