The big ACT Brumbies' No.8 flung out both arms, looked at the unmoved referee James Doleman and then turned back to the touch judge. "Did you not see that knock-on," a flummoxed Valetini asked.
Neither of them did, despite it being plainly obvious to everyone else. The television match official remained silent as well. Did somebody
say NRL bunker? If they didn't, you can bet they were after what happened next.
To Valetini's bemusement 10 seconds later they all missed another knock-on, which was arguably more obvious than the first.
Take Friday night, for example. The referees missed several crucial calls on top of the knock-ons, and both teams usually have a long list of gripes to look back on.
For the Brumbies, they'll point to Caleb Clarke being offside at a ruck, Corey Toole being held off the ball, a Blues second-rower standing so far on the wrong side of a lineout he might as well have been a Brumby and Tom Wright being ruled to have stepped out, even though he was still in the field of play. No wonder Valetini looked so stunned.
