Stephen Crichton has been called out for an act of “gamesmanship” when he intentionally bumped into referee Ashley Klein to ensure a try was denied.

The Bulldogs saw their finals hopes all but dashed on Friday night with a 22-6 defeat to South Sydney at Homebush as the Rabbitohs shored up a finals spot.

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Matt Dufty starred for the Rabbitohs but a controversial moment came in the second half when Rabbitohs player Lachlan Hubner found a gap in Canterbury’s defence and looked set to score under the posts.

But Crichton, defending on his goal line, saw Klein standing a few metres away and moved to his left, wrapping his arms around the referee as Hubner dived over to score.

Sure enough, Crichton’s deliberate interference ploy paid off as the Bunker ruled it was a no try because Klein got in Crichton’s way.

Commentator Dan Ginnane said on Kayo Sports the Bulldogs were “saved by the ref”.

“There was a controversial moment in that second half. Poor Lachlan Hubner thought he’d scored a try but Ashley Klein got in the way,” Braith Anasta said.

Watch Stephen Crichton’s ‘gamesmanship’ with ref in the video above

“This is an interesting one. Hubner goes on the outside, skips back on the inside. He’s scoring that try no matter what, I believe anyway.

“Crichton looks at the referee and then runs towards the referee when Hubner’s going back on his inside shoulder. Then he puts his arms around the referee.

“What’s alarming to me is Crichton should have been thinking ‘make the tackle’. Instead he’s thinking ‘how do I milk this’. I just think that sums up the way they (the Bulldogs were thinking tonight.”

Michael Ennis added: “I think the Bunker will be pretty disappointed when they look back at that.

“There’s no doubt he knew exactly what he was doing, Stephen Crichton. He knew Klein was in the vicinity and he knew if there was any contact at all, the play was null and void and it was over.

“Yes it was gamesmanship but the officials need to be better than that. If that’s a semi-final and that’s a big moment, we’re having huge controversy.

“That vision was alarming. Crichton knew exactly what he was doing.”

“It’s gamesmanship but in the right spirit? I wouldn’t have thought so,” former Broncos coach Kevin Walters said.

“He got away with it, pretty clever by him.”

Raiders star Hudson Young quipped: “I think he thought it was the goalpost.”

The loss sees the Bulldogs stranded in ninth position, two points behind the Cowboys, who meet the 13th-placed Eels on Saturday afternoon. North Queensland also still has a bye remaining.

The Bulldogs meet likely wooden spooners St George Illawarra next Saturday. While they also have an upcoming date with lowly Brisbane in round 27, they’ll almost certainly need a win against second-placed Penrith in round 26 if they wish to scrape an unlikely finals berth.

“Hope is not a strategy,” coach Cameron Ciraldo said when asked whether his side needed to rely on other results make the play-offs.

“All we can control is how we play next Saturday night. That’s all we can worry about now.”

Canterbury hammered the Rabbitohs’ line during the opening 15 minutes, but failed to capitalise on their field position after Cameron Murray and Jack Wighton made saving tackles on Jethro Rinakama and Stephen Crichton respectively.

The Dogs’ lone try came in the 61st minute when centre Enari Tuala scampered over for his 50th career touchdown, while Dufty had the final say after scything over from close range.

– With NewsWire

Originally published as ‘Knew what he was doing’: Dogs star’s ‘alarming’ act of ‘gamesmanship’ with referee