St George Illawarra will remain on the bottom of the NRL ladder after a tough loss to Penrith - but one crucial decision from the officials has left interim coach Ryan Carr scratching his head.
In a back-and-forth encounter on Sunday night against the reigning premiers, the 17th-placed Dragons remained in the fight until the dying stages and could have easily come away with the victory.
And while Nathan Cleary's hamstring injury will no doubt be the major story coming out of the Round 14 clash, one call from referee Chris Sutton proved to be costly.
With the visitors down by just two points in the 58th minute, Mat Feagai was deemed to have knocked the ball backwards and Tyrell Sloan streaked away down the sideline to potentially put the Red V in front.
MORE: Craig Bellamy slams 'putrid' Melbourne Storm performance
But as the fullback began his venture downfield, Sutton overturned his initial decision and left many Dragons players confused - including skipper Ben Hunt, who attempted to challenge but was told he was 'too late'.
Penrith would go on to score moments later and would eventually run out 26-18 victors at BlueBet Stadium - but Carr wasn't pleased with the standard of refereeing and made his opinions known post-game.
“My take was I saw the referee call ‘knocked back’ three times and push his hands backwards live on the field with a really good view of the call," he said.
"It’s not about what Sloany does after it or the fans or anything like that – he made the call and then all of a sudden it got changed.
"It’s a huge moment in the game, they scored off that set and Sloany actually made a linebreak off it. We tried to challenge it and got told it was too late… I’m disappointed that the call got changed, to be honest with you.
"I saw him blatantly say ‘knocked back’ and motion that way… what’s the basis of that? We’re pretty reasonable as a club and as players – we recognise not everything is going to go right.
"I need to get some clarification on why all of a sudden, the person on the field with the best view of the play, changes his call. I don’t understand where that comes from.
"A 50/50 call? I don’t actually think that's the fraction you want. I think it was more like 100 to nothing because it got called knocked back."
Jack de Belin cleared of serious injury after scary incident
During the second-half of the clash between the Dragons and Panthers, experienced forward Jack de Belin was stretchered off after suffering a nasty head knock.
The 32-year-old has since been cleared of a neck injury, but will miss the side's Round 15 clash with South Sydney due to the league's concussion protocols.
“He’s alright – he is in the sheds with the boys," Carr said.
"He has pulled up okay, so that’s the main thing. There was a bit of concern… he just got his head in the wrong spot."
