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.”
littleredrooster
Guest
I hope he (Archer) starts by getting Souths onside in defence, stops their attacking backline "sheparding" and gives blokes like Keary, Luke and Inglis ten in the bin for acting like big girls, when diving for a free kick....the gang lift and carry back ten metres after "held" has been called, well that could be looked at too.
sham
Guest
My guess is that some teams get treated softly by the refs. It is a subconscious bias that favours powerful teams that are expected to win. It would be very hard to prove and I may be wrong. If you are the raiders you have to expect that when you play the Broncos you will not get the rub of the green. No point fighting it.
Wolly
Roar Guru
Haven't forgotten when Shillo blamed NSW for him being dropped from the QLD side, he is a sook.
Jay C
Roar Guru
"Leave Britney alone"
MJB
Guest
"Talking about" is not the same as criticising. I don't see how there's anything wrong with Croker admitting that those calls get them down. Shillo on the other hand and his petulant whining about how they only pay attention to the Sydney clubs... that's persecution.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Another suggestion would be, that maybe we should exchange some of our referees with the English, French and NZ leagues referees, so that we can have different styles of referees in the NRL. So that the refereeing can evolve and advance with different ideas. I think that the English game is much more flowing and much more entertaining than what we ever see here in Australia, where its a stop and start video ref, penalty here (because we had to have a penalty) and a continual misinterpretation of rules in different ways by every other referee.
steveng
Roar Rookie
Leave Stuart alone, I hate this 'hatred towards Stuart' thing that goes on here on the Roar and in other media. Stuart has done miracles with the Raiders this year (even though many said that he will be a failure last year) and he has the right to not commence a post-match press conference when he knows that whatever he will say it will be taken against him and he will be fined. The refereeing in the NRL is inconsistent, its a lotto week in and week out, and we cannot shy away from that, and the sooner that the NRL referees boss Tony Archer starts doing something about all the inconsistencies that are plaguing the NRL the sooner things will get better.
zim
Guest
It was 6-1 earlier on. I agree that 3 penalties wouldn't have changed the result but the final penalty count doesn't represent how the whole game was refereed.
Mike from Tari
Guest
I don't support the Raiders & Ricky gives me a pain in the arse, but I do agree with him & the players that the refereeing is all over the shop, seems like the more they train them the more errors they are making, the game just does not have the eyes it used to have, I just want the game to go back to the way it was, make the scrum pack properly so the backline can operate, make the players stand up & put the ball on the ground, make the markers stand square, if they can't go back to one marker, if the video ref can see an error let him correct the ref, that way you won't have most of the errors, make the video ref have 2 looks at it do something to fix the game, watched Wigan play Leeds this morning, it was a pleasure to watch.
ferret
Guest
One of the main reasons the Cowboys are doing well this year is that Paul Green won't cop using ref mistakes as a reason for losing. Since being coach he has refused to talk about a Sydney hoodoo or an NRL-based "conspiracy" against NQ. His example has flowed on to the players. Everyone cops bad calls (look at the Sharks try and first points against the Dragons this weekend. Didn't affect the result though). Green has told his players to harden up and overcome. Ricky leads his players in the dummy-spit. Therein lies the problem.
Casper
Guest
You're missing the point, they've got 2 senior players talking about refereeing decisions which confirms the coach's persecution complex. Shillo will be off to England next season so he won't care but Croker has to lead the younger guys and that's not how to do it.
Jamieson Murphy
Roar Guru
I couldn't not agree more. It follows him where ever he goes.
Jamieson Murphy
Roar Guru
Looks like Ricky Stuart has installed his trade mark "us against the world" mentality into the team. The penalty count wasn't even that bad, it 8-5 against the Raiders. In a game like that, three penalties don't determine the outcome of the game.
Geoff from Bruce Stadium
Guest
The Raiders lost two games against the Bulldogs and the Broncos which they would have considered to be good chances of winning given their current form and the depleted sides they were playing. To lose to the Bulldogs narrowly and not be able to force a win against the Broncos are the reasons for the frustration. It could really cost them and they know it. The players are frustrated as are the coach and the supporters. The refs copped some stick for the soft penalties they gave the Broncos - particularly in the first half - but the Raiders had opportunities to score in the second half but couldn't. Credit to the Broncos defence. Its been said here and other forums that the defensive issues the Raiders have out wide need to be addressed quickly if they can be seriously considered a chance of making the finals.
Edward Kelly
Roar Guru
Regarding refereeing: Apart from a very poor call on a scrum win against the feed, the most inconsistent call by refs at the moment is for what used to be called "shepherding" but now is deemed to be running behind your own player for an advantage. Canberra had one called against them on the weekend in the middle of the field that was a bit pedantic when, if you look for it, you see players running behind their own players all the time and then passing (which is the crime the raiders did). Some refs don't call it unless its in the attacking 20. Players are confused and end up taking the tackle and then others are allowed to play on.
zim
Guest
The raiders know it's not only all against them. Every game teams get calls go either way. As the article said it's just a build up in frustration from a few weeks in a row of having some critical dud calls and small things in their own form costing them the victory. If they'd won those games the frustration would obviously be a lot less, which hints at a big reason you don't hear clubs higher up complaining about this stuff as much. They don't have the added frustration of the loss. Brisbane were the better side and deserved to win but I don't know how some of their forward passes were missed. Canberra threw 2 forward passes in the game and only 1 was picked up. Badger I think gets worse week to week.
MJB
Guest
He just said he was frustrated. That's not exactly walking out of press conference material. Regardless though, the Raiders need to take a bucket of cement and start defending like a team that wants to win the comp. Get the defence set after every tackle, move off the mark quickly, and for god's sake stop sliding backwards out wide all the time. As it is you could drive a mardi gras float through some of those gaps.
Adsa
Roar Rookie
Raiders should remember it is not only them that cop inconsistent rulings, Cowdies copped a dud for pushing in a scrum against Manly, however the week before Newcastle got a win against the feed for doing the same thing?!?!?
Jay C
Roar Guru
There you go. A perfect example of what happens when Ricky coaches a team. Players getting sucked into his bs.