The NRL admitted Raiders fullback Chevy Stewart was offside before his game-saving charge for what could have been a golden point winning field goal against Gold Coast.
Titans coach Des Hasler took aim at what he described as “pretty poor” refereeing in his team’s 21-20 loss in Canberra on Sunday night.
Hasler described the loss as “heartbreaking” and particularly criticized the referees for allowing Stewart to attack Kieran Foran’s field goal early in the second period of overtime.
The debutant fired from the try line to block Foran’s shot, and Hasler said after the match that it looked like “a good yard offside”.
NRL head of football Graham Annesley said it was undeniable Stewart was offside.
“That was a mistake and should have been detected by the touch judges who controlled the 10 meters,” he said on Monday.
“It’s a mistake by the match referees.”
Hasler asked why the bunker didn’t pick it up in review, since the video referee reviews every scoring play in games, but they can’t make decisions on the 10-meter defensive line for the same reasons the bunker doesn’t judge passes toward forward.
Annesley said referee Kasey Badger should have called six more tackles, but if that had happened and Foran was still attempting the field goal, the Titans probably would have received a penalty right in front of the uprights because they didn’t gain any advantage.
While that may make Hasler feel justified in his complaints, the statistics revealed by Annesley suggested that the Titans, while penalized more frequently than the Raiders, also got away with offsides on defense nearly three times more than his opponents.
That backs up the claims of Ricky Stuart, who applauded his team for not being frustrated by the Titans’ struggle in the ruck.
“Fuck. He’s on another planet,” Stuart said of Hasler’s complaints about officiating.
“If you criticize the six counterattacks and the penalties, you are on another planet.
“They trained well, but the way they cheated with their hands on the ball [in tackles]the way they cheated on the field.”
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