See the embarrassing moment footy great Paul Gallen comes up with the commentary clanger of the year on Channel Nine
- Cronulla worked great at the Roosters vs Panthers match
- I made a big mistake interviewing players after matches
- Joined Channel Nine before retiring from NRL in 2019
Cronulla premiership hero turned Channel Nine footy commentator Paul Gallen has left a Roosters star shocked when he made an embarrassing mistake shortly after the Panthers won Friday night’s match at Allianz Stadium.
Penrith had 22-16 wins to record their ninth consecutive victory over the Chooks. The big Sharks asked James Tedesco about his side’s loss when he came up with a shocking mix-up live.
“How about the great Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ 300th game tonight? A bit disappointing. What has he meant to this club?’ Gallen asked the Roosters skipper, referring to the team’s long-serving striker.
A clearly surprised Tedesco paused for a moment before answering, “Last week’s 300th game?” while gently pointing out that Gallen had completely mixed up his threads.
Gallen (pictured on Nine’s broadcast) had to be corrected by James Tedesco when he made a shocking blunder on Thursday evening
The Roosters’ skipper (pictured center during the loss to Penrith) gently reminded Gallen that he had missed teammate Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ 300th game by a week.
“Oh sorry, I thought it was this week, my bad,” said Gallen, before going on to ask: “What has he done for the club?”
The landmark match of Waerea-Hargreaves was highly publicized, with many stories written and broadcast about it before the Roosters thumped Souths 48-6 to mark the occasion.
To add to the embarrassment, some of those stories appeared on Nine, where his 300th match was also mentioned several times during their broadcast.
Luckily for Gallen, his shouting was overshadowed by another shocking mistake during the match – this time from the video reference.
Joey Manu scored what would have been the Roosters’ first try, but attacking runner Waerea-Hargreaves was condemned for obstructing Edwards in a stretch of office-bearing action that infuriated fans and pundits.
On Friday, NRL head of football Graham Annesley said the call was wrong, with the prop 20 meters away from where Manu hit the ball on the ground when it was ruled he had prevented Edwards from making an attempted save.
Gallen somehow missed the much-publicized celebration of the Roosters prop’s 300th, which was central to last week’s match against Souths (pictured)
Fortunately for the Sharks, there was an even more embarrassing mistake on Thursday night when the video referee wrongly disallowed Joey Manu’s attempt (pictured)
Annesely took the unusual step of making the announcement early instead of waiting for his usual Tuesday news conference.
Had the correct ruling been made, the Roosters would not have been 12-6 down until the 22nd minute.
“Last week I supported two obstruction rulings from the Bunker,” Annesley said Friday.
‘I have spoken about the need for the leader to continue to push through the defensive line, and that play should not be turned back by the gap created by a collision with a defender.
“None of these factors were present in last night’s decision…” In my opinion the try would have been scored anyway and the decision on the field should not have been overturned.”