After a controversial round three Friday night of football, Ivan Cleary and Anthony Griffin have disregarded an NRL edict not to criticise refereeing calls.
The Wests Tigers and Penrith coaches were measured when quizzed about crucial calls in their sides’ respective losses to Brisbane and Canterbury but didn’t hide their disappointment.
It comes after all coaches were told in the pre-season not to enter into discussion or criticism of refereeing decisions in the media in 2018.
However Tigers coach Cleary seemingly had reason to be frustrated after going down 9-7 in golden point to the Broncos.
Forward Robbie Rochow was ruled to not square at marker when he pursued Jamayne Isaako as he attempted a field goal, even if replays indicated it was teammate Pita Godinet who had in fact offended but not played a part in the next play.
Isaako then slotted the penalty goal to win the game for Brisbane.
“There’s one thing, do you give penalties in golden point, which historically you don’t,” Cleary said.
“And the other thing is was it a penalty and I don’t think it was. We all make mistakes but that’s a big one.
“You could tell by the way the Broncos guys reacted, it was almost as if they were embarrassed to win.
I”t’s hard, very hard. You’ve got to feel for the biys, I feel for the crowd. I feel for everyone.
“But anyway, we didn’t play good enough … It’s hard to take.”
Meanwhile Griffin also refused to blame the referees for a 20-18 loss to the Bulldogs but was baffled by the Bunker’s decision to greenlight Moses Mbye’s fifth-minute try.
Griffin claimed James Maloney had been momentarily impeded by lead runner Will Hopoate with Mbye forcing his way through the hole created.
Griffin said video referee Steve Chiddy had set a dangerous precedent and Maloney would have been better off taking a dive in an attempt to draw a penalty.
“It was an obstruction,” Griffin said.
“If we’ve got to take a dive, that’s not good for the game and not something we want to encourage our players to do.
“But if we’ve got to take a dive to save a try, that’s what they’re encouraging you to do if they let tries like that in.
Penrith skipper Peter Wallace was left scratching his head after Maloney was penalised for a similar obstruction minutes later.
“Both of them were tough calls on us,” Wallace said.
“The first one – I thought it was just an obstruction.
“Then a set later they called one on the run that went against us where I thought they made a decision to come in and the outside blokes went past the ball. It’s a bit confusing when you’re out there.”