Is Geoff Toovey Nostradamus or just unlucky?

"There has got to be an investigation into this."

Does anyone else feel sorry for the Sea Eagles today?

Geoff Toovey copped a $10,000 fine for his post-match blow up after the South Sydney loss back in mid-August. Last night he didn’t blow up post-match but it still cost him a grand final.

media_camera Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall celebrates his controversial try as Manly's Steve Matai and David Williams look on. Picture: Phil Hillyard

Does anyone else feel sorry for Manly this morning?

Hands up who thinks the NRL should refund Toovey $10,000 for being a good sport?

Sure, it was one of the bravest and toughest and most keenly fought grand finals in years - but if you were Toovey or any Manly fan would you consider it a fair result this morning?

The Roosters are the premiers and they deserve to be judged the best team of 2013 because that they were - but last night there is no denying Manly deserved better than they got from the refs.

On four separate occasions in that first half the Sea Eagles paid for crucial refereeing mistakes - and they still only trailed 8-6 at the break.

Mitchell Pearce got away with a knock on in the 4th minute just 20 metres out from his own tryline.

media_camera Roosters centre Shaun Kenny-Dowall scoring his second half try in front of Manly's Steve Matai. Picture: Brad Hunter

In the 12th minute Pearce again benefitted from another tough call against Manly when he got a hand in the play the ball that forced a mistake from Kieran Foran.

Then there was Jared Waerea-Hargreaves' head butt on Justin Horo - but Horo was still penalised for slowing down the play the ball. Please.

And just a minute out from the halftime break another call went against Manly when Michael Jennings kicked out in desperation at Jamie Lyon’s grubber.

It was Jennings who pushed it into touch, as Lyon told the touch judge and the ref, but still the scrum feed went to the Roosters.

It denied Manly one final crack at their opponents in the countdown to the break - and they were denied all night.

The Roosters showed tremendous fight and resilience to get themselves back in the game after trailing 18-8 after 50 minutes. But to be fair, was it a fair fight?

media_camera Shaun Kenny-Dowall celebrates his controversial second-half try with the Roosters. Picture: Brad Hunter

There were controversies before and after that late charge that had a significant impact on the end result.

Did Manly get lucky with their penalty try, as some claimed last night?

Lyon was clearly taken out of play in a scoring position.

But then came the forward pass from Maloney to Minichiello that resulted in the try to Kenny-Dowall that put the Roosters back in front.

Sure, great lead up, great support, great finish - but the ball still went forward. It wasn’t a try.

From there the minor premiers went on with it, running away with a 26-18 victory that is now officially in the record books.

To the credit of both teams the performance from the players was truly memorable - but is it too much to ask for consistency from the match officials in an NRL grand final?

Does anyone else feel sorry for the Sea Eagles today?

Originally published as Ref shockers cloud epic grand final