Cleary calls for replay after nightmare Nines exit

Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary has called on a "one replay" rule for the NRL Nines after his side were horribly denied a win in their quarter-final clash against St George Illawarra on Saturday.

The Panthers were bundled out of the competition in controversial style when rookie Dragons winger Cody Ramsey collected a ball in the air before placing it down on the sideline in-goal on the full-time siren.

With no NRL Bunker system in place, referee Ben Cummins and his match officials gave the all-clear for the try to be awarded.

The clanger wasn't the only dubious decision for the match with Ramsey's second try of the afternoon appearing to bounce.

"[The replay] came up pretty quick so I'm not sure why it couldn't be judged on that," Cleary said post-game.

"It's a 50-50 call and hopefully we get a few go our way in the season. I thought we didn't play our best game and put ourselves in that position ultimately.

"But I thought we were building and could've given it a red-hot crack."

There were no complaints from the Dragons however with the side progressing through to a semi-final date with Parramatta for a spot in the final.

Ramsey, who turned 20 on Saturday, was confident he got the ball down.

"I thought I got it in but that's the ref's call, I can't do anything about it,” he said.

The Orange product has been one of the standout performers of the tournament with five blistering long-range tries.

Ramsey models his game on former Storm fullback Billy Slater and is on a NRL train and trial contract at the Dragons.

He was named under-20s player of the year in 2019.

"I think this format suits me, it gives me a bit more space to run and freedom where I can use my pace," Ramsey said.

"I've been pretty nervous but have just tried to play football and not think about it.

"[In the end] this is Nines and the 13s is a lot different so I'll just be happy if I get my shot and play my own football like I have been."

NRL Head of Football Graham Annesley addressed the controversy in a live interview with Fox Sport's Andrew Voss.

"Very disappointed obviously Andrew, you only had to look at the reply to realise that it wasn't a try," said Annesley.

"The officials got it wrong and that's disappointing.There's three of them out there and between the three of them they've got to come up with the right decision.

"At the moment I haven't dissected it, Bernard Sutton, the referees coach will do that. Ultimately they got the decision wrong. They should have got it right. They're only human, they make mistakes.

"This is helter skelter football. It does demonstrate why we have video referees in the premiership proper and that's the way it is.

"In this type of competition, it's a competition that revolves around continuity of play, it revolves around back-to-back games starting on time.

"If we had a video referee in play for this type of tournament, we'd probably be finishing at 3 o'clock tomorrow morning. With over 100 tries, a percentage of those would probably go to the video referee, and that's not what this tournament is about.

"It's about continuity and fun and people being able to see back-to-back games. It's a different type of tournament, but that doesn't diminish in any way the fact that they got the decision wrong. But they are human and they make mistakes."