- Incident happened in Dragon’s shock win over Melbourne Storm
- Queensland Maroons winger Valentine Holmes was lining up for shot at goal
- Fans have questioned by Storm player was not penalised
A Melbourne Storm star has escaped sanction despite footage appearing to show him distracting a rival goalkicker with an illegal tactic during their tense loss to the Dragons on Saturday.
The Dragons shocked the Storm in a 14-8 result in the wet at Sydney’s Jubilee Stadium.
But the actions of Storm winger Will Warbrick could have had an enormous bearing on the final result.
The incident happened in the 51st minute of the second half, with Melbourne Storm substitute Tyran Wishart penalised for an escort after changing his line to collide with Dragons star Valentine Holmes.
‘You nearly take two [points] here to level it up, don’t you?’ commentator Kevin Walters said.
‘Two points on offer, so they’re going to take them, the Dragons.’
The Melbourne Storm player could be seen waving a white towel as the Dragons kicker lined up his shot at goal
Storm winger Will Warbrick (pictured) appeared to be warned about his actions on the field, but was not penalised, despite Holmes missing the goal
Holmes then set up to kick, about 10 metres in from the left touch line and 15 metres out from the goalposts.
While the Queensland Maroons goalkicker has had his issues with the boot this season, it was a fairly regulation attempt by his standards.
However, the ball cannoned into the right upright and back into the field of play.
Footage showed Warbrick flapping a white towel up and down at Holmes in an apparent bid to distract him.
Warbrick then shrugged and walked back to his teammates after seemingly being told by an official to stop.
However the damage was done and the crucial penalty goal was missed in a low-scoring match where it could have been decisive.
Peter Lang, rugby league columnist for The Western Weekender newspaper in Penrith, posted the video on social media platform X and asked: ‘Is waving a white towel to try and distract the kicker legal? It worked as he missed the goal.’
The officials did not penalise Warbrick for his actions and he was not charged by the NRL’s Match Review Committee either.
Fortunately for Valentine Holmes and the Dragons the missed penalty conversion attempt did not halt their charge to victory
That is despite the NRL rule book clearly stating it is illegal to attempt to distract a player taking a shot at goal.
‘Not to distract: It is illegal to attempt to distract the attention of a kicker player who is kicking at goal,’ the rule book states.
Eagle-eyed viewers who saw Warbrick’s actions said the back could consider himself lucky he didn’t earn Holmes another attempt at the kick, this time from right in front.
‘New move from the Storm. It’s called the chicken refresher towel,’ one quipped.
Another posted. ‘Should be an immediate re-kick with player warned’.
‘Quite sure that’s actually illegal. Not in spirit of the game,’ added another.
It is not the first time the NRL has seen attempts to put off a kicker.
In 2024, Cronulla Sharks trainer and former NRL star Daniel Holdsworth earned his club a $5000 fine for putting off Canberra Raiders kicker Jamal Fogarty.
The NRL ruled that the trainer had run too close to Fogarty as he attempted the goal, which he subsequently missed.
In 2022, a Parramatta Eels trainer ran in front of the goalposts just as Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary was moving in to kick a conversion, which missed.
At the time, NRL head of football Graham Annesley said the governing body would consider amending the rules so a conversion can be retaken in the event of a trainer distracting the kicker.
Back in 2016, spectators in a corporate box at Brookvale Oval tried to use the lights to put off Parramatta kicker Michael Gordon.
Gordon missed two vital kicks late in the match, with footage later revealing the fans had been turning the lights in their box on and off to create a strobe effect – right in his line of sight.
