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Canberra players say coach Ricky Stuart’s media walkout was due to frustration at refereeing decisions over several weeks, not just in Saturday’s NRL loss to Brisbane.
Stuart barely answered one question before abandoning the post-match press conference after just 24 seconds, saying it was healthier for the club that he not continue.
The playing group also refused to speak to journalists, for fear of saying something they might regret.
“I think that was a bit of build up of frustration and that’s what led to the short press conference,” said veteran prop David Shillington said on Monday.
“It’s been frustrating for the coaches and for the players, too.”
Skipper Jarrod Croker, who walked out with Stuart without saying a word, said it felt like a number of crucial decisions had gone against the Raiders in recent games.
“It gets a bit frustrating at times,” he said.
“We were obviously disappointed with the loss and needed a couple of days to cool off.”
Shillington believed calls for fairness are probably falling on deaf ears because they’re in the ACT and one of the smallest clubs in the NRL.
“We are out of sight and out of mind down here,” he said.
“I think if one of the bigger Sydney clubs were blowing up about their calls it might get listened to a little bit more.”
While Shillington appreciated the efforts of the referees to ensure they made the right decisions, there were still inconsistencies.
“There’s different interpretations week to week, depending how the game’s flowing and potentially who the referee is,” he said.
“It is hard for the players and sometimes you draw the short straw and get a penalty drawn against you. But other times it can work in your favour.
“I won’t be too critical of it, but it certainly does frustrate people. I’m sure the refs are putting in are putting a lot of hard work into getting those calls right more so than not.”
But both Croker and Shillington said the Raiders were keen to move on and focus on ending their run of three straight defeats against Newcastle on Friday.
“If we get caught up in something like that, it will take away from the hard work we’ve been doing on the training paddock and how we need to prepare to beat the Knights,” Shillington said.
“It’s happened and we can put it away now.”
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