He’s got two more competition points but Gold Coast coach John Cartwright is fed up with what he feels are poor decisions by the NRL’s video referees.
Cartwright was furious when video referee Luke Phillips disallowed a try to his team for obstruction in the second half of Sunday’s 15-14 victory over St George Illawarra.
The Titans were trailing 14-8 when fullback Will Zillman crashed over only for former Sydney Roosters fullback Phillips to rule co-captain Greg Bird had obstructed the defence.
Cartwright admitted he stormed out of the coaches’ box in the wake of the decision.
Thankfully for the Titans mentor, his team took out their frustrations in the right manner to secure a much-needed win following back-to-back defeats.
But it was small consolation for Cartwright.
“When they sit there and watch it 10 times and still get it wrong, and you can see my blood boiling now, that’s when I get cranky,” Cartwright told reporters.
“Most people only look at the scoreline, they don’t worry about what went into the game, and it’s another loss to the Titans … get it right.
“The try was scored because Tyson Frizell made a bad decision, anyone whose ever watched a game of football will know that.
“We could have lost today’s game and they say the Titans are struggling again. Bull****. Get it right.”
Cartwright praised his team for overcoming the call to hit the front through Aidan Sezer’s 67th minute field goal before repelling a late Dragons charge.
But the visitors were also fuming at the officials after they conceded 12 penalties to the Titans’ six, with captain Ben Creagh conceding it had been tough to know what the players could and couldn’t do on the field.
“There was plenty against us and there was a wide variety of penalties too,” Creagh said.
“Everything we could get penalised for we did today. It’s hard for me as a captain trying to talk to my players to stop doing certain things … when there’s a different thing every time.”
The Dragons had earlier started brightest when debutant fullback Adam Quinlan set up Daniel Vidot for the opening try of the match and hit the front early in the second half after Jason Nightingale’s second four-pointer.
But despite a strong finish, and several attempts at a levelling field goal by playmaker Jamie Soward, the visitors couldn’t break down the Titans in the final 10 minutes.
The victory keeps the Titans in the top eight on 10 points while the Dragons are two points behind eighth-placed Brisbane.
In Sunday’s early match, Blake Ferguson pressed his claim for a NSW State of Origin berth as he scored a hat-trick in Canberra’s 44-14 win over Newcastle.
The Raiders win came despite the home team trailing 14-0 after 16 minutes.
Silver_Sovereign
Guest
cartwright ought to worry about his own coaching and team. Wooden spoon 2011, missed the finals 2012, and with a side full of rep players and up and comers mid pack on the ladder. Many coaches have been sacked with better results. The titans attack has always been poor, it was their defence that kept them in the top four two years in a row. Carty is always portrayed as a nice guy and talented coach, where are the results to prove this? Dave Taylor who questioned the strategy of the team and was suspended for it, was right on the money.
Nomenclature
Guest
Steve price has more reason to be upset. In the first half the Titans received 6 penalties in a row when traling which reminds me http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/dramatic-licence-whistleblowers-in-danger-of-playing-to-script-to-ensure-theatrical-finale-20120806-23qe1.html
Bazzio
Roar Guru
Steve Price was also pretty upset with the ref's (again). Dave Taylor began his run to intercept as soon as the ball touched the ground in the play-the-ball. A player should be called off-side if he moves forward before the ball clears the ruck area. Incompetent and one-sided refereeing is now par for the course in the NRL. Even Darcy Lawler would cringe, I reckon. If people whose sole responsiblitiy was to watch grass grow made as many mistakes as NRL referees, they'd be given the sack.
planko
Roar Guru
Cartwight 50/50 calls went either way. I am not a fan of either team and I did not bet on either team. Dave Taylor was not offside when he caught the ball from a st george Dummy half pass .... Gold Coast were also off side at another critical stage when soward was going for a field goal to level it up twice. If these were called he would have lost by a point and then you would have heard some wingeing.
Dr NRL
Roar Rookie
They are indeed a blight on the game. They can't even remember that they're supposed to make sure the team kicking off is behind the kicker. They started hard in 2013, and then, like goldfish, simply forgot. I can't remember the Knights being on side on any of their multiple kick offs yesterday. Another example of a very basic mistake - The Eels were penalised because a Broncos player put his hand on the line getting up to play the ball. Now, unless the rule has changed (unlikely, and there was an almighty stink about this a few years back), that is not out, and it is play on. Legal Aid wouldn't defend a touchie! Simple stuff, but too simple for some.
Love The Game
Guest
Fair suck of the old sav. Titans got the rub of the green all day. They won the penalty count 12-6, and were continuously helped out of their own half. What about the try where the ball was planted before the line, then rolled over. If this happened in the middle of the field the player would have been deemed to have lost control and knocked on. Taylor was a mile offside when he took the intercept. There was another occasion where Kelly clearly knocked on but it was ruled to have went backwards, yet Vidot gets pulled up for a knock on soon after etc etc. I was at the game, and the refereeing made it hard to watch. It was extremely inconsistent, even down to the last field goal attempt by Soward when Titans players were 3 or 4 metres offside. Cartwright is just trying to take heat off his side because the Dragons got 3 tries to 2 and should have won the game, and Cartwrights side got double the penalties.
oikee
Guest
Your not alone Carty, even Wally Lewis and Rabs and Gould could not hide their disgust at the call. One even used my term, "Killing the contest". These faceless men will destroy this code. Joey has made the immortals now seem like the monty pythons ragtime band bigbash competition. Wonder if i could get a gig, Oikee the Immortal , king of the rasberries and misfits. hehe. I have never seen a commentary team go down hill so fast. Yesterday nobody even turned up, they must have had a big night out. Rabs was late, Fox did not show, and they are now useing 3 non league commentators, just a ex runner and 2 ex players who make mistake after mistake. What a rabble this code has become. Yelp, Galllop, we need yelp mate. The game is coming apart at the seams.
Pot Stirrer
Guest
The biggest call the refs made was when Taylor took an intercept from the try line. It should have been a dragons penalty and iven them an 8 point lead. Instead the titans score and level the scores.