NRL: Elliott lashes out at ref decisions

Bill Slater in action for the Melbourne Storm. Photo /Getty Images

Warriors coach Matt Elliott said his team were hard done by with refereeing decisions for the second straight week following last night's 28-18 defeat to the Melbourne Storm.

The Warriors led the Storm by two points with eight minutes remaining before conceding two late tries as the home side picked up their 15th straight competition win, in front of the sell-out crowd of over 25,000.

After the match Elliott backed his side's dubious decision to take a penalty goal despite repeat sets attacking the Storm line which gave the Warriors an 18-16 lead.

But he lashed two refereeing decisions; describing the pass by Sisa Waqa to Will Chambers for his second try as "a long way forward''.

The video referee also overruled the linesman on a 40-20 kick by Shaun Johnson late in the match.

Elliott said his team had been hard done by with refereeing decisions in this match as well as in the tight loss to Canberra two weeks ago.

"The refs will also have to put their hands up for making errors,'' he said.

"They did it in the back end of the Canberra game in their report, where there were three calls that went against us and they acknowledged they were incorrect.''

The defeat leaves the Warriors with just one win from their opening seven games and now sit at the bottom of the table.

The Storm meanwhile are a perfect seven from seven in 2013 and are four wins shy of equaling the 1975 Eastern Suburbs Roosters' record of 19 straight wins.

Storm coach Craig Bellamy said his players looked for shortcuts in the first half but got back to playing their brand of grinding football in the second.

"I thought we were looking for some easy options instead of sticking to what we know works for us,'' Bellamy said.

"We weren't looking to get our hands dirty.

"I thought the second half was really good and we did the things we planned to do during the week.''

- AAP/nzherald.co.nz