Benji Marshall, coach of the Wests Tigers, expressed his frustration and confusion after controversial decisions negatively impacted his team in their 24-10 defeat to the North Queensland Cowboys.
Although the Tigers led at halftime, difficult calls hampered their ability to secure the win as the Cowboys gained momentum in the second half.
Two major incidents drew attention to the Tigers, particularly when Jarome Luai sprinted the length of the field only to have a try disallowed in the 21st minute.
"I actually feel very sorry for them (Tigers players) because the standard and level of some of the refereeing decisions today were outrageous," Marshall stated.
"I thought we copped the raw end of the stick all night."
Captain Apisai Koroisau was penalized when he supposedly played at the ball as Cowboys player Thomas Mikaele approached the line, allowing Luai to score.
"Api gets penalised when Jarome runs away and scores, for playing at Thomas Mikaele's arm. What's he supposed to do?," he commented.
"He's going to go and score if he doesn't.
"At the end of the game, we go and contest the ball and get penalised for contesting. They go down, take Jock Madden out, same thing, we get no penalty and they score. That's just a couple of things that actually happened out there, and I just feel sorry for the players because we're fighting so hard to try and get the result.