Andrew Webster has revealed he believes the New Zealand Warriors are an easy target for referees because of his personality.
The Warriors were last week impacted by an obviously wrong decision in allowing Stephen Crichton to stay on the field after a high shot on Roger Tuivasa-Sheck.
Liam Kennedy who was in the bunker at the time has since been stood down from those duties, with the NRL head of football Graham Annesley confirming Crichton should have been sin binned.
Webster took the decision to task immediately after the game and wasn't ready to change his opinion leading into this weekend's clash against the Cronulla Sharks.
"Yes I do. I stand by my assessment, 100 per cent," Webster said when asked if he stood by his call.
The coach, whose side will miss the top eight, said that while he didn't want to be a victim, he believes his own personality in not putting pressure on referees has led to his side copping the rough end of the stick at times this year.
"I'm very careful in not being a victim. I'm facing this, there are so many things I have to do better as a coach. I have to prepare them better, but I feel like we are easy to pick on," Webster said.
"They don't blow up, Webby doesn't say anything, he sits there all year and says it's okay, because I don't want the players to use this stuff as an excuse.
"For the last two seasons I have been really like that. In the end, like, it's really easy. There is no pressure. Other coaches apply pressure. I don't want to be that guy. Why we didn't make the playoffs is because we didn't play better."
He also said there should be more accountability for officials.
"I just think when a player makes a mistake, there is accountability for a player, if I get thins wrong, there is accountability for me," Webster added.
"If there is accountability, then these things will happen less. If there is no accountability, then no one explains it and all it does is lead to frustration. People get frustrated and there is no clarity. When there is clarity, people can move on, but I stand by my assessment."
The Warriors, who played a preliminary final last year, have fallen well out of finals contention this year, and Webster said it was a 'frustrating' campaign, but said his side were ready for the challenge of improving in 2025.
"Frustrating. We certainly haven't played our best football. I'm more frustrated because I've seen signs of it, but we get paid to bring it out, so we haven't done our jobs and haven't achieved what we want to achieve. If we were a bunch of guys or a roster who couldn't achieve it, you probably wouldn't be frustrated by it, but when you can, that's what hurts," Webster said in summing up the season.
"We didn't play our football for 80 minutes. Our good was great, and our bad was poor. There was too much inconsistency in what we wanted to do.
"[We have to] work hard, fix it, make sure we understand the real reason behind it and make sure we improve.
"I believe in this group. I believe they can be top four players like they were last year. There is a lot of faith and a lot of belief. It's not all around recruitment, it's around making sure we prepare as well as we can and put our focus in the right spot."
Webster, do you know why other sides fans call yours the Wah Wah’s?
Because you’re a bunch of sooks, always crying about how hard done by you are!
Should seek sponsorship by Kleenex!
How many hits to Sexton’s head went unpunished in your game alone?
Do you rate Crichton’s ‘hit’ worse than the three Manly players hits?
Crichton has been tried by media, very much undeservedly so, too.