Wayne Bennett has admitted he was left confused by the NRL bunker's decision to award Campbell Graham a try early in the second half during the South Sydney Rabbitohs' 36 points to 14 win over the Dolphins on Thursday evening in Brisbane.
Graham, who had already scored in the first half, appeared to have pushed Dolphins' centre Euan Aitken out of the way on his path to collecting a kick and diving over for a second try.
Aitken, who ended up on the ground after the contact into his back from Graham, saw the Dolphins' players immediately protest with referee Ashley Klein, who awarded the try on ground, before the bunker confirmed.
Graham appeared to never take his eyes off the ball on his path to collecting the ball, with the try taking the game to 14 points to 10 shortly after halftime.
Bennett, speaking post-game, said it was a push in the back.
"Well, it left me confused," Bennett said.
"It was a push in the back.
"I mean, Euan is allowed to run the line he was running. He was going back towards the ball. He wasn't going anywhere else. He got penalised in the first half rightly.
"Anyway, decision made, move on."
The try set the wheels in motion for the Rabbitohs to run on 30 unanswered points during the second half, with Cody Walkler, Isaiah Tass, Latrell Mitchell and Alex Johnston all scoring tries - the final three of those coming in a ten-minute period after Kenneath Bromwich was sin binned for a disastrous late shot on Taane Milne.
Bennett refused to be drawn into conjecture over whether the call had impacted his side's chance of winning the game however.
"We are all big enough to overcome that stuff. That's the call, that's the call," Bennett said when asked if the call might have impacted the Dolphins' performance.
Rabbitohs' coach Jason Demetriou disagreed with his former mentor though, saying Aitken was never trying to get the ball.
"I think they are both contesting the ball," Demetriou said in contention to Bennett's comments.
"He is backing into him. He is trying to get to the ball, the other bloke isn't trying to get to the ball. I don't think it makes any difference in the game to be honest."
The loss leaves the Dolphins with a four and three after seven rounds, with matches to come against the Gold Coast Titans and Canberra Raiders in the next fortnight, before they play the Cronulla Sharks during magic round.
