A deflated Ricky Stuart had little to say following his side's 12-10 defeat to the St. George-Illawarra Dragons on Sunday afternoon but was adamant there was a refereeing error at the conclusion of the game that cost the Canberra Raiders.
In wet and windy conditions at WIN Stadium, both sides struggled to create clear-cut chances, with a Zac Lomax penalty goal the difference.
The final minute of the match was filled with controversy, with the Dragons desperately defending against the Raiders ten metres out from their line.
A six-again was called when Ben Hunt made a tackle infringement before the experienced Dragon then lurched out from marker in the following tackle to wrap up Tom Starling as the clock expired.
When asked in the post-match press conference if Hunt was offside for the final play, Stuart was adamant that referee Peter Gough made the wrong decision by not calling a penalty.
"I only need to see it once," Stuart said.
"But tomorrow I'll get an apology or there will be a justification (for) there not being a penalty."
Whilst some of Stuart's press conference answers were à la Darius Boyd in 2009, the Raiders coach did elaborate on his team's performance before adding that the referee needed to display 'courage' late in the match.
"We set ourselves up to win that game - it was a really tough grind in the first half," he said.
"And then the second half we let ourselves down. We lost our way.
"We had opportunities ... but when you're in a high-performance business, there's always going to be pressure. When there's pressure, you need courage.
"And there needed to be courage on that ruling on the last play of the day."
#NRLDragonsRaiders Match Highlights 🎥
— NRL (@NRL) July 3, 2022
The Dragons and Raiders clash in driving rain and gale force winds! pic.twitter.com/pz7CpNuklJ
Despite the loss against a fellow top eight hopeful, Raiders forward Elliott Whitehead believes his side has what it takes to reach the finals this season.
"We let ourselves down again in the second half by making errors and not getting that field position we wanted," Whitehead said.
"We've definitely got the quality in the team to push for the finals, and we're looking to do that."
The 32-year-old Englishman then expressed some disappointment regarding the controversial final moments but opted not to share his opinion.
"It's probably best not to make a comment - it'll probably come back on me," he said.
"There is probably a review in there for the last play, but it shouldn't come down to that.
"We're a better team than that ... we put ourselves in a position to come home strong and we didn't in the end.
"We made too many errors, and it ended up costing us field position and we couldn't get back on top and get that momentum."
