Titans mentor Hasler described the refereeing as “pretty poor” following Sunday night’s golden-point loss to the Raiders,and questioned how the home side had received 10 set re-starts compared to their one.
Ricky Stuart took aim at Des Hasler after a narrow golden-point clash in round six.
He also wanted to know why Raiders debutant Chevy Stewart was not penalised for being off-side when he charged down a Kieran Foran field-goal attempt.
The NRL confirmed on Monday that Stewart was off-side and the Titans should have had the chance to kick a winning penalty goal from in front of the posts.
After his press conference,Hasler crossed paths with Canberra coach Stuart and told him about his comments.
According to club sources who witnessed the incident,but were uncomfortable talking on the record,Stuart told Hasler:“F–k you,it should have been 15 set re-starts to one … if you’ve had a go,I’ll have a crack back”.
Ricky Stuart has hit back at Des Hasler (inset).Getty
Stuart also told Hasler he had done a good job ensuring the Titans slowed down the play-the-balls,something he repeated in front of the cameras.
Stuart and Hasler were not commenting on Monday. The pair have been friends for over 30 years.
When asked about the NRL’s admission the Titans should have received a crucial penalty for the charge-down,Hasler told this masthead:“You win some,you lose some. We have to move on.”
The words of NRL head of football Graham Annesley on Monday added another layer to the situation by vindicating one of Hasler’s post-match grievances.
Canberra Raiders take on the Gold Coast Titans in Round 6 of the 2024 NRL Premiership at GIO Stadium,Canberra.
“He[Chevy Stewart],in this instance,is offside,” Annesley said.
“It should have been picked up by the touch judges,who are monitoring the 10 metres,particularly in those sort of situations,and it’s a miss by the match officials.”
Hasler queried why the bunker didn’t review the decision but Annesley said it wasn’t in their power to do so.
“The bunker can’t review 10-metre compliance,and there’s a very good reason for that because in most parts of the field,depending on where the play-the-ball is,there’s no lines to assess,” he said.
‘He[Chevy Stewart],in this instance,is offside.’
NRL official Graham Annesley
“It’s almost impossible in between[the] lines to determine whether players are in front of the referee or not,particularly if they’re out wide.”
Annesley said referee Kasey Badger should have given the Titans a set restart,at the instruction of the touch judge,before Foran had attempted the field goal. Then,when the Titans knocked the ball on after the charge-down from Stewart,it would have resulted in a penalty to the Gold Coast because they didn’t get to play their advantage.
The offside wasn’t the only thing Hasler was upset about. He said Badger’s performance was “pretty poor” after his team conceded five penalties to three.
However,Annesley said the reality was both sides could have been sanctioned more often.
Benji Marshall labelled the Tigers' round six loss to the Dragons their “worst performance of the season”.
“There were more times where they infringed where they weren’t either sanctioned by way of six again or penalties - both sides,” he said.
“But there was a big number for the Titans because they did a lot more defending.”
Annesley acknowledged that the missed call happened at an unfortunate time.
“When there are[refereeing] errors made,it always takes on much more meaning in close games,and also takes on much more meaning towards the end of games,” Annesley said.
“The only thing I’d say,and this is not by any means an excuse because I’ve already said that was a miss and should have been picked up,[but] there’s never one incident that determines the outcome of the game. There are hundreds of incidents that happen throughout the course of the game that ultimately lead to the outcome.”
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