Raiders coachย Ricky Stuart has launched a scathing attack at the NRL for some of the referee decisions during his side'sย 28-24 loss to the Sharks.

Stuart was particularly unhappy over one Sharks' try where the referee actually called knock on and the touch judge lifted his flag.

Another decision that infuriated the Canberra coach was when centre Joey Leilua got called for an iffy forward pass which could have gone either way.

โ€œWell I only saw the one replay, but to me it went well behind a lot of passes that have been let go this year,โ€ Stuart told reporters post-match.

โ€œAll this rot started at Round 1 this year.

โ€œI donโ€™t know who came out and told the referees, that they had to come in and pick on everything.

โ€œWhen you start nitpicking at little sh**ty pieces of play and realistically, if you are going to do that right, in every tackle in every set of six you can find something in rugby league.

โ€œBut thatโ€™s the beautiful thing about our game.

โ€œThe penalty count should have been 55-60 if you were going to be fair dinkum, but weโ€™ve ruined the first 14 rounds of this competition.

โ€œWeโ€™ve lost fans and I know so many people who have said theyโ€™ve been turned off the game of rugby league because of it.

โ€œBut then, halfway through the year Todd Greenberg has come out and told everyone to stop nitpicking.

โ€œWe are the only sport in the world, that changes interpretations midway through the year.

โ€œEvery coach gets an email on Wednesday telling us that this wonโ€™t be acceptable this week.

โ€œI have one session after that, what am I meant to tell the players?

โ€œItโ€™s like a cricket umpire telling you LBW this week is only going to be leg stump and middle stump.

Stuart conceded that the referees were not completely to blame considering his side dug themselves in a hole at half time, but they made the job harder for them.

โ€œWe did enough in that second half to win the match,โ€ Stuart said.

โ€œBut people donโ€™t understand that this is our job and we play for results.

โ€œUnfortunately it doesnโ€™t help you when you have people making errors, that donโ€™t help you when you are after a result.

โ€œBut again we wonโ€™t look at it and blame the referee and or his touch judge, but any time a touch judge puts his flag up isnโ€™t the referee meant to blow his whistle?โ€

Canberra skipperย Josh Hodgson defended the players for stopping after seeing a flag go up.

โ€œI know what people are going to say, that we should have played to the whistle, but he put the whistle in his mouth and the flag went up,โ€ Hodgson told reporters after the tough loss.

โ€œIt is natural instinct when you see a flag go up and a whistle go up to the referees mouth that you stop.โ€

Stuart continued his tirade, attacking the NRL for making the referee's jobs too hard.

โ€œThis is why people are turning off rugby league,โ€ Stuart said.

โ€œAnd it is sad because I donโ€™t blame the referees, they have a very tough job, but too many voices around them are making it too hard for them.

โ€œI believe we have very competent referees and the professionalism they have is as good as it can be, but we have too many people around them not letting them do their job.

โ€œFor one the bunker is a waste of time.

โ€œFor the referee to be able to use it as a tool because he doesnโ€™t know, is wrong.

โ€œThe bunker is making it harder for the referees.โ€

Stuart added thatย โ€œthe disappointing thing is that we are talking about it."

โ€œI got into my players for not playing to the whistle, but they told me that the flag went up and the referee called knock on, so what are they meant to do?โ€

 

 

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