Parramatta Eels fullback and captain Clint Gutherson has hit back at the NRL's head of football Graham Annesley over comments made during Monday's weekly footy briefing.
During the briefing, the NRL's head of football revealed the officials had made a poor decision in not allowing a Dragons' try to stand during the clash between the Red V and Parramatta on Sunday.
At the time, the Dragons were leading 20 points to 10. The try would have extended the lead, which Parramatta ultimately mowed down in a comeback to more or less keep their finals hopes flickering.
Annesley confirmed that, in the lead up to the try, what had been adjudged to be a knock on off a loose carry by Dragons' hooker Jacob Liddle was in fact a strip by Gutherson.
RELATED: Read Annesley's full comments on the try
โYou see the fingers curl up on top of the ball and there is a raking motion that dislodges the ball,โ Annesley explained during his briefing.
Speaking on Sky Sports Radio's Big Sports Breakfast though, Gutherson said he never played at the ball and refuted any suggestions it was a strip.
โI definitely haven't played at the ball, so I will get that off straight away,โ Gutherson said on air.
โLoose carry, no try.
โI am trying to tackle him and he drops the ball.
โThe description used was my fingers were curled at the top. If you have ever seen my hands in real life most of my fingers are actually bent anyway, so maybe they were just looking at that.
โI don't know what my fingers were doing, but three on that right hand are actually bent to a right angle, so they could have been looking at that.
โI might have to get that fixed so there is no more indecision about whether it is a strip or not.โ
Annesley admitted during his presentation on the issue that people would disagree with his version of events on what was just one incident in a controversial weekend for NRL officiating.
Dragons' coach Ryan Carr was less than pleased with the call, it being the second week in a row the Dragons have lost games where controversial decisions going against the club were involved.
Gutherson admitted that there are times where teams are simply uncertain on which way a call will go, and that it feels like a toss of the coin.
โThere are times where a team challenges and you are in there and a couple from the other team are in there as well and you just want to play scissor, paper, rock or toss a coin and whoever wins it gets the call,โ Gutherson said.
โA lot of the time it is a lot of indecision and it is frustrating at times because you don't know which way it is going to go.
โYou think it is going to come your way and one little call or something else shows that they can't change it or they can change it.
โIt does get a little bit confusing, but lucky this one went our way.โ
Annesley had plenty to talk about on Monday, also suggesting that there had been no crackdown over high shots during the weekend just gone despite a pair of send offs.
SEE ALSO: Annesley confirms no crackdown during Round 23 despite controversial send offs
Parramatta are now locked in a scrap to make the Top 8, and will likely need to win at least two, if not all, of their final three games against the Brtisbane Broncos (away), Sydney Roosters (home) and Penrith Panthers (away), before a bye in the final round.
A player complains about an official’s opinion.
I’m sure that has never happened before :=))