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SYDNEY - Warriors coach Ivan Cleary has taken his refereeing concerns to National Rugby League bosses, fearing another contentious sinbinning call could cost his side dearly this season.
Cleary had no doubt about the impact of Shayne Hayne's decision to march Simon Mannering in the 68th minute of Sunday's 31-31 extra time draw with the Roosters at Aussie Stadium.
"In effect it's cost us a [competition] point," Cleary said.
"It was a crucial call. From that moment it was anyone's game."
The Warriors have dropped one place to fifth on the NRL ladder, with four rounds remaining, as they chase a top-four spot and the right to host a playoff match next month.
As his battered and bruised players dived into the Coogee Beach surf for a recovery session yesterday, Cleary was on the phone to NRL referees' coach Robert Finch to clarify professional foul rulings.
"I agree with 10 minutes for a professional foul but surely it has to be an obvious penalty. You could tell by Simon's body language - he was just trying to make a big play for his team."
Mannering was marched by Hayne for stripping the ball from Roosters' fullback Sam Perrett. The Warriors were leading 30-18 at the time and the Roosters scored two tries in Mannering's absence to tie the scores.
This year the Warriors' Louis Anderson was binned for a late tackle at a crucial stage of their home loss to Wests Tigers in May and Patrick Ah Van got 10 minutes for an early tackle on the goalline in the 12-18 loss to North Queensland in round 17 in July. Both times the Warriors conceded tries when down to 12 men.
Cleary didn't want to be seen as a "whinger" but felt he had to question the worrying recent trend of lopsided penalty counts against the Warriors during away matches.
On Sunday the Warriors lost the penalty count 8-2 and captain Steve Price bemoaned Hayne's crucial call against him in the fourth minute of extra time.
Hayne called a scrum to the Roosters when Price lost the ball in a tackle but replays showed it should have been a Warriors penalty for Nate Myles punching the ball clear.
During the Warriors' 28-16 win over Wests Tigers a fortnight ago they conceded eight consecutive penalties in the second half and fullback Wade McKinnon was sent off by referee Paul Simpkins for kneeing in the tackle, which NRL operations manager Graham Annesley labelled an error the next day.
"A couple of [sinbinnings] this year have been very much borderline and decided the game," Cleary said.
"I don't think there's a bias there but we've certainly struggled in penalty counts. Some of our players are getting a bit edgy about it.
"I do believe the ledger eventually balances out but I can't say we're giving too many away or being a lot less disciplined than the other teams."
Finch said a touch judge "got his arse kicked" for missing the stripping penalty, which should have gone against Myles.
Finch agreed the Warriors should have received a penalty, giving Michael Witt a kick to win the game from about 40m, but said it was sideline official Michael Jones to blame.
"The touch judge got his arse kicked for that, he should have picked that up."
- NZPA
