Dragons veteran Damien Cook has teed off over the officiating in his side’s 20-12 loss to the Warriors on Saturday night, saying it’s “unfair” and suggesting they fight an uphill battle against referees because they are a struggling team.
With 10 minutes left on the clock in the Auckland clash, Valentine Holmes was pinged for an escort infringement on Taine Tuaupiki.
Taine Tuaupiki is knocked over by Valentine Holmes. Fox League
Tuaupiki was looking to chase his kick when he ran into the back of the Dragons star, who seemingly only had eyes for the ball, not his opponent.
A replay of the incident seemed to clear Holmes of any wrongdoing, though the Bunker had a different view and ruled a penalty for an escort.
The penalty gifted the Warriors a chance to claim a one converted try lead in the dying minutes of the game, which had been a thrilling end-to-end battle.
Dallin Watene-Zelezniak had scored the final try of the match earlier in the second half, while the Dragons were denied the opportunity to lead by two points.
Setu Tu looked to have got St George Illawarra in front with 20 minutes left, but the Dragons gun was denied by the Bunker as it was deemed he had been tackled in the build-up.
Another penalty in the final minutes of the match sealed the fate of the visitors, with an offside ruling gifting the Warriors a moment to celebrate a 20-12 win.
Adam Pompey was first to strike on Saturday, though his try-scoring efforts did not come without some questioning from the Dragons.
The Warriors centre proved too strong for a handful of Dragons defenders as he powered towards the tryline, but he appeared to ground the ball short. The on-field decision of no try was sent up to the Bunker, who had enough evidence to overturn that ruling as he had not ground the ball before sliding into the in-goal.
“We’re not getting rewarded for the effort we’re putting in,” Cook said in the Dragons’ post-game press conference.
“The Warriors got a lot of stuff out there, we’re putting a lot of effort in, we’re fighting for play-the-balls, but we’re not getting the same six agains.
“We come out at half-time, they throw a forward pass, and we’re chasing points straight away when we were in control of that game.
“It’s just not right. I feel sorry for the fans that have to watch that.
“But it’s happened too many times to us.”
The Dragons are sitting last on the ladder with only two wins from 17 games.
A season that began with Shane Flanagan getting sacked in April will likely end with a wooden spoon.
“I don’t know if it’s because we’re sitting down at the bottom and it’s an easy one to throw off because the Warriors should win today,” Cook added.
“I think it’s unfair, and we deserve better moving forward.”
Dragons interim coach Dean Young also fired up in the press conference.
“It’s a hard one,” Young said of the Setu no-try call.
“The referee said he wasn’t held, so he gets up and scores a try, and then the Bunker goes against him.
“But if he called held, we’ll probably score on the next play because there are no Warriors ready to defend us.
“That was a big turning point in the game, and it hurts.”
Panthers legend Greg Alexander was dumbfounded by the Holmes call.
“What? He barely had time to turn around. He had only taken two steps,” Alexander said on Fox League.
“That is a bad call. That is not right. Please, you can’t [rule that].
“The kick has landed at least three or four metres from where he was. It happened within a split second. He wasn’t looking.”