Eels coach Jason Ryles delivered a parting shot at match official Gerard Sutton after his side’s 36-14 loss to the Warriors, suggesting the refereeing was not up to standard.
As his post-match press conference came to a close, Ryles and Moses stood up — before he put a question to the reporters in the room as he left.
“No questions on the officiating?” he said.
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During their loss, the Eels gave away eight penalties to the Warriors’ three, but also had less ruck infringements with five, while New Zealand recorded seven.
It is currently unclear exactly what instances Ryles was referring to in his thinly-veiled jab, and the Parramatta coach also explained “fundamental errors” hurt his side.
The Warriors ran in six tries at CommBank Stadium, with the Eels fighting their way back into the contest after two early second half tries.
However, Andrew Webster’s outfit scored three times from the 63rd minute onwards to put the contest to bed, with a Mitchell Moses error handing Alofiana Khan-Pereira a match-sealing try.
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“I don’t think the score line reflected the fight and the effort that we displayed tonight,” Ryles said.
“A lot of our fundamental errors, and I’m not saying just with the ball, but the escort penalties and the kick-pressure penalties hurt us.
“A lot of them were out of yardage and after we’d done good things. A lot of good signs there with our fight and our effort, but we just can’t keep continually putting ourselves under pressure with those fundamental errors.”
Skipper Moses, meanwhile, echoed his coach’s opinion and said the loss was “upsetting”.
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“We’re doing it to ourselves, like we are hurting ourselves. Too many errors, too many yardage penalties and we are putting ourselves under the pump,” Moses said.
“A good team like that, they like to hold the ball and they take their chances when they do and they finished us off with 15 minutes to go.”
Elsewhere, an injury to hooker Ryley Smith has added another player to the Eels’ growing casualty list.
However, they could receive a big halves boost with Jonah Pezet returning from a hamstring strain in NSW Cup.
Ronald Volkman scored a double in the No.6 jersey on Saturday night and has been impressive, and Ryles was asked whether he will be dropped for Pezet.
“I’ll just wait and see, have a look at the tape again and then we’ll sort of review it from there and see what the best combination and best fit is going forward,” Ryles said.