He conceded the Queensland were the ‘better side’ but Brad Fittler declared the Maroons also benefited from some ‘dodgy decisions’ in Wednesday’s 20-18 victory over the NSW Blues.
Paul Green’s men dug deep to keep heavy favourites the Blues at bay and avoid what would have been their first 3-0 series loss in 21 years.
Fittler’s side surprisingly had the support of the Gold Coast crowd but the Blues boss suggested his men were harshly treated by referee Gerard Sutton.
“I think a few things went their way and I though they took advantage of it, I thought they were pretty good,” Fittler said.
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“There was a few decisions I thought were pretty dodgy and we weren’t happy with.
“But at the end of the day there were big periods there where the game was in play so I’m pretty sure everyone was pretty fatigued out there, but I thought they were the better side.”
Pressed on which decisions were ‘dodgy’, Fittler replied: “I thought the Ponga one on the right-hand side before the try, I thought that was a knock on.
“I thought before the goal kick Latrell got pushed in the back that led to their goal kick.
“I haven’t seen the replay but when I first saw the knock on down the side I thought that was an obvious call.
“But anyway, like I said we still had three sets on their line which we’re more disappointed about we couldn’t score, so.”
Fittler had no issue with his players’ decision for Latrell Mitchell to take a 50m shot at a penalty goal in the 79th minute that would have levelled the scores at 20-all.
“No I wasn’t surprised,” he said.
“We’d had three sets on their line and hadn’t scored a try so it wasn’t a dumb decision.
“I was quite happy with them backing themselves, I’ve been watching him kick goals for three weeks now and 50’s normally not his problem.
“I think the way we were attacking on their line didn’t give me much confidence that we were going to score a try anyway.”
Meanwhile, Fittler defended the performances of Mitchell Moses and Jack Wighton after the duo replaced injured first-choice halves Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai in Game 3.
“I thought Mitchell Moses had the kick for the try and Jack Wighton scored a try, so I’m not sure what your argument is,” the coach quipped when asked if he regretted not selecting South Sydney halves Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker.
“I thought they were great, I was really happy with Mitchell Moses, I thought his defence was fantastic, they threw a lot at him.
“At the end of the day I don’t know how much ball (we had) but a lot of it was in defence and a lot of it was under fatigue.
“I thought Mitchell’s defence was outstanding, and Jack Wighton’s, so there’s always two sides to a game.”
