Bulldogs coach Ron Griffiths has questioned two calls by the referee which he says cost Kurri Kurri victory in their 22-32 loss to Lakes United on Saturday.
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Griffiths said he was loathe to ever criticise referees as they had a tough job and generally did it very well.
However, he said a try to Lakes United and a disallowed try to Kurri Kurri were both questionable calls which had cost his team the opportunity to put the game out of the Seagulls reach.
“The referee ruled late in the game that Mick Campton had been held up although fans at that end said he had clearly put the ball down across the line.
“It should have been either disallowed for a double movement and resulted in a penalty for Lakes, or been awarded a try as it all happened in the play of the ball..
“It became a 12-point play in effect as the next play Lakes took possession and scored a length-of-the ground try.
“The other questionable call was a try awarded to Lakes from a clearly forward pass. Those two decisions got Lakes back into the game and we were pretty much deflated.
“Credit to Lakes they are a very good team and you can’t give them a sniff because they are young and will keep coming out at you.
“I’m loathe to cricitise referees but those decision cost us a valuable win as they allowed Lakes to be in striking distance. If Mick’s try was paid it would have been game over.”
Griffiths admitted his team’s defence in broken play was poor in the final 10 minutes and the team had switched off after the Campton try was not awarded.
“There are areas we have to work on, but I thought particularly in the first half we played a really good brand of footy,” he said.
“Getting Terrence (Seu Seu) back certainly boosted our direction up front and the forwards backed him up with some excellent work in attack.
“Our second phase work was excellent, we really worked the ball well. The halves were really able to capitalise on the strength of the go forward we gave them.”
Griffiths said centre Tyme Dow-Nickau was the standout for the Bulldogs.
“He was probably a bit below par last week, but he was outstanding on Saturday.” he said.
The Bulldogs received great news on injured women’s player Sophie Crouch who was cleared of any damage to her jaw. She will require some dental work but it could have been worse.
Play was halted as an ambulance was called to take her John Hunter hospital with fears that she had broken her jaw in a clash of heads.
Bulldogs secretary Jeff Polglase praised Crouch’s teammates Casey Gilmour, a paramedic, and Leanne Polglase who assisted her until she was transported.