Jason Ryles decided not to take aim at a few contentious refereeing decisions that took place during his side's 24-18 loss to the Penrith Panthers on Thursday.
The Eels coach was more so disappointed his side couldn't capitalise on a 12-0 start after 12 minutes, which would have marked an upset win of the ages against the ladder-leading Panthers.
A few contentious calls went against Parramatta, including the bunker deciding against awarding a penalty try to Brian Kelly despite becoming extremely close to scoring, while a forward pass was missed, leading to a decisive Thomas Jenkins try.
Ryles spoke up against the forward pass ruling, but he acknowledged it ultimately came down to costly errors which invited the Panthers back into the game and taking control of the contest.
“Every week you come in, I can have a little dig, but I choose not to because I understand how hard the job is,” Ryles said in his post-match press conference.
“I thought BK's [Brian Kelly] try (could have been a penalty try). If he impeded him to get the ball and he got so close to the ball, then possibly a penalty try?
“I don't know. And then there was one where there was a forward pass and maybe a knock-on in the run of play. It was like gridiron.
“It's disappointing when we've got so much technology and we're willing to use it at times and other times we just don't to help the referee out.
“Obviously they've got their touch judges there to help them as well.
“You can always look back at little things like that, but we were our own worst enemy there for periods of that game and those little moments add to that.”
The Eels remain in 15th place on the ladder, with six wins and 12 losses after coming up short against the Penrith juggernaut.
Skipper Mitchell Moses was instrumental in trying to steer his side to victory, recording two try assists, four line break assists and kicking three-from-three off the boot.
Although the NSW five-eighth agreed minor errors were to blame for the side's loss despite some crucial calls going against him.
“I don't think it was the calls that hurt us,” Moses added.
“We kind of hurt ourselves in periods where we relieved some pressure.
“In pressure situations, we came up with some errors and some wrong decisions so we'll have to learn from them and we'll get better.
“But we're learning on the run at the moment. It obviously hurts.
“We're getting so close, but we put ourselves in a position to win the game. We just couldn't finish it off.”
