Interim St George Illawarra Dragons coach Ryan Carr has taken aim at the officiating during his sides loss to the Dolphins on Thursday evening in Redcliffe, suggesting the whistle went away late in the contest.
It came as the Dragons also lost stand-in captain Jack de Belin to the sin bin for a perceived cannonball tackle during the first half of the game.
While the Dragons remained in the contest until the end, Carr said the sin bin, combined with the penalty count and six agains, and the fact the Dolphins may have got away with some contact, contributed to the result.
"I'll have to have another look at it because we didn't have that screen in our box so I couldn't quite see that close-up," Carr said.
"I want to have a look at a few things that happened in the game. If it is I'll live with it, we know that's where the game is going, they are trying to look after the players which is fine.
"If we have to put up with a sin binning, we have to put up ith it, but I just want to have a look at some other things that happened in the game that I'm really interested to see some contacts made on the other side that there could have been a similar outcome on the other side."
Asked outright if the refereeing was consistent, Carr stopped short of holding up on a rant, but admitted he thought the officiating needed reviewing.
"No, not from first look [the refereeing wasn't consistent] but I don't want to make too many outlandish comments. They played a good game of footy, I don't want to make too many excuses for it. At the end of the day I have to look after the players by reviewing it. There just seemed to be a lot of penalties early and then all of a sudden the whistle went away late so I don't understand," Carr said.
De Belin said he was shocked by the call to send him to the sin bin.
"To be honest it happened pretty quickly. I don't think I went in too hard or too low with bad intent so I was pretty shocked in all honesty to be sin binned," De Belin said.
"As Carry said, that's the way the game is going so you have to live with it. It was disappointing on my end. You don't want to leave the team out there with 12 men."
The Dragons, who sit last on the table, lost the game 26 points to 12.
