Michael Ennis has teed off on the Bunker over Stephen Crichton’s controversial contact with referee Ashley Klein, claiming the Bulldogs skipper knew exactly what he was doing when he ran into the official.

Ennis warned the incident could have caused a huge controversy if it had occurred in a finals match, arguing the Bunker should have handled the situation better.

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In the latter stages of the second half, Rabbitohs forward Lachlan Hubner looked certain to score after receiving the ball from teammate Brandon Smith who had produced a one-on-one strip near the try-line.

The only player standing in Hubner’s way was Crichton.

But instead of focusing solely on Hubner, Crichton ran into and made contact with referee Klein before attempting to hold the Rabbitohs forward up over the try-line.

“I think the Bunker will be pretty disappointed when they look back at it,” former NRL premiership-winner Michael Ennis said on Fox League.

“There’s no doubt that he knew exactly what he was doing, Stephen Crichton.

“He knew that Klein was in the vicinity and he knew that any contact at all that the play was null in void and it was over.

“Yes it was a bit of gamesmanship but the officials need to be better than that.

“If that’s a semi-final and that’s a big moment, we’re (going to have) huge controversy. It was alarming that end-of-vision. Crichton knew exactly what he was doing.”

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Fellow NRL great Braith Anasta was also critical of Crichton’s actions, arguing that the Bulldogs skipper should have been focused on making the tackle rather than attempting to milk a decision.

“What’s alarming to me is Crichton should be thinking make the tackle,” Anasta said.

“Instead he’s thinking, how do I milk this? I think he’s a great leader and he’s one of the best captains the Bulldogs have had but I just think that sums up the way they were thinking tonight.”