Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has slammed the consistency of the officials, highlighting one moment during his side’s 34-16 loss to the Cowboys on Friday night.
The Raiders piggybacked the Cowboys down the field on several occasions in the first half with cheap penalties conceded, and the visitors were mostly able to cash in with tries.
Stuart admitted his side were ill-disciplined, but wondered why the six against his side were receiving weren’t being awarded as penalties.
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Stuart pointed specifically to a penalty the Cowboys received when Raiders hooker Danny Levi was ruled to be off-side.
“Go and have a look for yourself at the three minute mark when Danny Levi gets penalised for off-side. Do yourself a favour and take a look,” Stuart told reporters in his post-match press conference.
“It would have been half a foot over, so by the rule book it’s off-side.
“But then we get I think it was four six agains on their goal line. I don’t know what constitutes a player to be binned.
“This is not (an excuse), they got us. They won the game in the first 25-30 minutes by us giving away cheap field position, but if Danny Levi’s is off-side, why aren’t all the other offsides getting done?
“And I don’t want (referees boss Jared) Maxwell ringing me and saying the referees set a trend at the apart of the game because the trend ain’t working.”
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The Raiders and Cowboys were both awarded seven penalties for the games while Canberra had seven set restarts to North Queensland’s zero.
Stuart went onto to infer that he didn’t believe each half was officiated to the same standard.
“That type of discipline was happening right throughout the game. The ill-discipline that we got pinged for, and I totally agree with some of those penalties, but that was happening right throughout the game,” the Raiders coach said.
“Does the interpretation of ill-discipline just stop does it?”
When asked if he felt if both teams were “ill-disciplined” throughout the game, Stuart shot back.
“You watched the game mate. You’re the journo, you write what you see,” he said.
With Canberra trailing 22-0 at the break, boos rang around GIO Stadium.
The Raiders faithful haven’t had much to cheer about at home in recent times, with the loss on Friday night Canberra’s third straight defeat at home.
Stuart again was testy when asked about the booing and his side’s recent record at home.
“I’m not out there with the fans at halftime,” Stuart said.
“We’re trying. You think we’re trying to lose at home? We’re trying to do everything to win games at home.”