A livid Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has teed off at the NRL after his side were involved in a controversial defeat at the hands of the Brisbane Broncos in the nation's capital on Saturday evening.
Stuart's side had the ascendency at halftime but came up short after a number of crucial calls against the green machine were made in the second half.
In two of the calls which caught the attention, Hudson Young was penalised for an escort, and Jordan Rapana was sin-binned for a trip on Selwyn Cobbo.
Stuart, quizzed during his post-match press conference, said he couldn't go into detail but suggested bad calls against his side were made right across the 80 minutes.
"I told you outside what I thought, and if I tell you now again what I said out there, I'll get fined," Ricky Stuart said during his post-match press conference.
"It went for 80 minutes [the bad calls]."
The aggravated coach said that fans were right to be frustrated, but said he couldn't do anything other than cop it.
"Why do you reckon they do it? Why do you reckon little old ladies are sitting on their chair going off their head?" Stuart said when quizzed over why fans had given the ref a send-off.
"I can't do nothing [about it]. You just have to cop it."
Stuart also made the stunning claim that Jared Maxwell has lost a lot of his power as the man in charge of the refereeing group.
"Jared Maxwell is a very good operator. He is a very good boss of the referees. I reckon it has been taken off Jared in a number of areas because they aren't improving. Jared was a very intelligent ref and a very good boss for the refs," Stuart said.
"I honestly believe there is a lot of power that has been taken off him."
The loss to the Broncos leaves the Raiders now likely needing a win over the Cronulla Sharks away from home next week if they are to qualify for the finals.
Stuart, when asked how his side would turn things around though, simply said that he couldn't answer the question, and instead unleashed another spray at the NRL for making him front up for the post-match press conference.
"Don't ask me questions I can't answer right now. I get bought in here. I've got the NRL ringing up, the media manager saying why isn't he in this press conference? The reason I'm not coming in this press conference and keep you poor people waiting is because I'm pissed off at people not doing their jobs properly."
Club captain Elliott Whitehead admitted he himself was frustrated at the level of officiating during the game.
"I try not to get frustrated at referees, but with some of the calls tonight, I kind of get frustrated. Like Ricky said, it's probably best not to say anything at the end of the day because I don't want a fine," Whitehead said.
