NRL fans have lashed out at Liam Martin after Penrith’s second row appeared to celebrate in the face of Melbourne’s Jack Howarth after he crossed the try line to give the reigning premiers a 10-6 lead in the NRL at half-time Grand Final.
It was a tense start to the match, with both sides trading blows in the first twenty minutes of the match.
Storm got first blood when Harry Grant crashed through the Panthers’ defense to give them the lead, but Ivan Cleary’s side showed their class and fought their way back into the match with Sunia Turuva in the corner.
Nathan Cleary would then create space for Martin in the second row, who has been locked in a war of words with Storm’s Cameron Munster all week, to crash through and give the Panthers the lead. Cleary would kick the resulting conversion to give the Panthers a 10-6 lead at half-time, with emotions running high on the pitch.
Martin let out a huge roar after dodging several tackles to score, but was criticized by fans online after appearing to celebrate in Jack Howarth’s face.
Fans have lashed out at Liam Martin (right) online after he appeared to celebrate in front of Jack Howarth’s face
Howarth (left) was pulled out of position, allowing Martin to sneak through a gap in midfield and score Penrith’s second try
In a rather unsportsmanlike display, Martin walked back to the halfway line and was seen shouting at 21-year-old Howarth, who had failed to close the gap allowing the Penrith star to crash through.
“Gosh, that’s some pretty nasty behavior from the Krusty the Clown lookalike. You have the chance. Don’t act like ad*** after #NRLGF #Storm.”
Some fans hit out at Martin after he appeared to shout in Jack Howarth’s face after scoring
Another wrote: ‘Liam Martin big sled at Howarth after letting the boy try that… that will hurt…’
But others went to X to praise Martin for what was an excellent first half. The second row showed his physical tackling ability and helped Penrith weather Melbourne’s attacks.
More to follow…
