Eels skipper Clint Gutherson has revealed referee Peter Gough told him it was “unlucky” their collision stopped him from making a potentially try-saving tackle on Greg Marzhew.
On the stroke of halftime, the Knights flyer scored in the corner, with Gutherson running into the back of the on-field referee in the middle of the park.
After Marzhew’s try, Gutherson pleaded with the referee who told him it was simply “an accident”.
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“He just said it was just unlucky, I was asking what was the go there, I could have got there a step earlier and maybe made the tackle,” Gutherson said in the post-match press conference.
“But I was just asking, but that’s the way it went. That’s footy… he just said it is one of those things, it’s an accident.
“I’m trying my best to get to the corner and make a tackle but that’s not what cost us the game, it’s other things at the moment.”
Elsewhere, young gun Blaize Talagi was denied a four-pointer which would have completed an impressive hattrick for the 19-year-old.
The Bunker ruled he’d rolled the ball up his forearm and in the process lost possession before the tryline.
Eels coach Trent Barrett said: “We thought that was a try”.
“There’s a few dubious decisions each week but we’re just not getting them at the moment, but we need them. It’s not a great position we’re in at the minute, and we needed that one,” he added.
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The Eels were denied several tries in their loss to the Knights, and Barrett was of the belief that their Round 17 clash was there for the taking.
He also explained that yet another tight loss was “hard on the players”.
“We just couldn’t get any luck with some of our calls, the Bunker was involved in a lot of things tonight, and we couldn’t really get one,” Barrett said.
“It works both ways (dubious Bunker calls), but you’ve got to be careful, sometimes you get them and sometimes you don’t. We were on the wrong side of a few, and we just needed a few of them to go our way. The Maika one, we had a few there with Blaize.
“It’s hard on the players, because we are running out of players as well… it’s hard on a few individuals at the moment.”