CHRIS BARRETT smh.com.au
THE referees' room at Parramatta Stadium is next to the visiting team's dressing room on the western side of the ground. As Des Hasler walked past to board the Manly team bus yesterday afternoon it must have taken all of his powers of resistance not to beat the door down.
He was certainly huffing and puffing at the game's officials after the Sea Eagles' stunning four-point defeat. ''We've got serious issues with this game,'' Hasler muttered to NRL official John Brady as he entered the post-match press conference.
Irking the Manly coach most notably, having watched his side surrender a 20-point lead, were what he believes were forward passes by Jarryd Hayne and then Kris Keating before the Eels' penultimate try in the 73rd minute. Hasler also took aim at referees Shayne Hayne and Brett Suttor for not awarding a penalty to the Sea Eagles against Hayne just before he orchestrated the match-winning try. Hasler believes the Eels fullback played the man, not the ball, in contesting a bomb against Manly winger Ben Farrar.
Battling rage, Hasler was in something of a giving mood as he addressed the passes. ''I'll personally pay for those two touchies to visit OPSM and get a check-up because I didn't know we'd reverted to gridiron,'' he said. ''Not once but twice and I thought it was a pretty critical part of the game.''
Hasler described the decision not to award a penalty for Hayne's mid-air contact with Farrar and instead rule a knock-on against the winger as ''another turning point''. ''I haven't looked at the replay but I thought Farrar might have been taken out by the play before he caught the ball by Hayne,'' Hasler said. ''In my mind that's a turnover for the forward passes and a penalty going the other way.''
Earlier, the Sea Eagles were on the right end of the referees' decisions, leading 4-1 in the penalty count after 30 minutes. The tide turned in the second half, as did the match.
''You go from 4-1 in the penalties for - and you play good, smart disciplined football - to I think five-zip,'' Hasler said, though the Eels were still penalised three more times than Manly in a 9-6 final count.
''How do you go from a 4-1 for to a five-zip against? Maybe we should just leave [referees' coach] Robert Finch alone; it seems everyone is getting into him. It doesn't help.''
Hasler is not the first coach to have a crack at refereeing decisions this season. Asked if there was an issue with referees, he said: ''I'm a coach. That's for the leadership group. That's for David Gallop to have a look at.''
Hasler's remarks have earned the attention of the NRL itself, although he is unlikely to face a $10,000 fine as Bulldogs coach Kevin Moore could for suggesting his side could not ''get a fair crack of the whip'' in their defeat to the Dragons on Friday night.
NRL chief operating officer Graham Annesley said he would examine the comments in detail today.
Hasler's Parramatta counterpart, Daniel Anderson, had some sympathy. Told that Hasler was unhappy with some decisions, Anderson simply said: ''Agree.''
''The first 40 minutes I thought we got some really rough plays,'' he said. ''I just thought there was re-gripping and double efforts and all sorts of little things in the first half that went against us and then in the second half they went for us. I thought the ledger was pretty square by the end of it.''
