Canberra coach Ricky Stuart has doubled down on his criticism of the NRL, claiming he and the Raiders are victims of double standards off the field.
Still fuming after the NRL admitted play should have been stopped after a touch judge raised his flag in the lead-up to a Cronulla try in the Raiders’ 28-24 loss on Friday night, Stuart claims head office holds him to a different standard to other coaches.
Speaking on ABC radio on Saturday, Stuart said he was unable to answer when asked whether there was a bias against his club.
“If I said there was a bias against the Raiders, they would be onto me a lot quicker than they are at the moment,” Stuart said.
“They would be onto me and fine me.
“Yet there was another coach in the game who said there was a bias against his club and nothing was done. We get treated differently here.
“I’ve been to a number of other clubs, this club gets treated differently to other clubs I have been involved in and other clubs I know have got a higher profile and who they need in their competition.”
Stuart is the NRL’s most fined coach, copping $120,000 in sanctions since his rookie year of 2002. However, he hasn’t received a breach notice since 2015.
He was possibly referring to comments by Newcastle coach Nathan Brown last year that escaped sanction despite the claim his team wasn’t getting favourable calls as underdogs.
Stuart’s comments come after a month of tension between the club and NRL.
The Raiders were furious earlier this month when the league integrity unit increased a club-sanctioned six-game suspension for Jack Wighton to 10 matches after he pleaded guilty to assault charges.
At the time, the Raiders questioned why the club had the power to announce its own sanction if it still had the potential to be overruled.
Stuart’s post-game comments on Friday went well beyond the Sharks’ controversial try, claiming fans had turned away from the game following the referees’ rules crackdown this year.
Stuart was also upset about a late forward pass call that denied the Raiders a try as they attempted to mount a late comeback following the contentious Cronulla four-pointer.
Sutton admitted on Saturday the forward pass call was wrong.