Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has questioned whether prop Clay Priest gets sent to the sin bin if the North Queensland Cowboys were penalised for the same offences his team was.
The Raiders were on the wrong side of two controversial decisions and a freakish Johnathan Thurston kick, going down 20-16 in a golden-point thriller in Townsville on Saturday night.
With scores locked at 6-all in the second half, Priest was sin-binned early in the second half for Canberra's repeated infringements after what was a dubious penalty.
Related Content
Asked for his thoughts on the decision, Stuart said: "It's not for me to say, but they don't become repetitive penalties or repeated infringements if the opposition gets penalised for what you're getting penalised for."
But he was full of praise for his team's performance and felt they should've lost by "four or five tries" and not even taken it to extra time.
"We didn't get the two points, but we did get a lot out of that footy game," Stuart said.
"They had enough possession and they had enough play go their way tonight and should've beaten us by four or five tries. It was an amazing effort from my team. I'm so proud of them."
Priest's enforced 10-minute rest wasn't the only big call in the game, with Raiders winger Jordan Rapana denied a golden try of his own due to a forward pass just two minutes before Thurston's miracle kick.
Thurston's golden-point field goal attempt hit the underside of the bar and landed perfectly for Gavin Cooper to run on to and ended the contest.
Cowboys coach Paul Green praised his team's "never-say-die attitude", but also praised the Raiders' effort without three of their best players.
Captain Jarrod Croker (knee), Jack Wighton (illness) and Junior Paulo (suspension) were all unavailable going into the round-one clash.
"We want to have that never-say-die attitude and just keep competing until the final whistle's gone. That's what we want to see and that play at the end, that's exactly what that was," Green said.
"That was a brave effort from them [the Raiders]. It was a really good effort considering the quality of player that didn't play - Croker, Wighton and Paulo and those guys. It was a huge effort from them."
The Raiders scored the opening try through a piece of Josh Papalii brilliance.
A nice right-foot step put him through the line and then he passed inside for fullback Zac Santo - deputising for the ill Wighton - for his first NRL try.
The Cowboys then dominated for the rest of the first half - they ended up with 59 per cent of the ball for the game - but could only manage one try to level the scores at half time.
A powerful run from prop Matt Scott, who showed no signs of the infection that hospitalised him during the week, laid the platform for fullback Lachlan Coote to step through and score.
His star centre Joey Leilua, who scored two tries, might come under scrutiny for appearing to throw a punch at Cooper in the second half.
He put the Raiders back in front, despite them being a man down, before the Cowboys hit back through Coen Hess and Javid Bowen.
Then a brilliant Josh Hodgson grubber kick gave him his second and sent the game into extra time.
Rapana thought he'd won it, but his pass to Elliott Whitehead was ruled forward and his return ball for Rapana to score didn't count.
Then up stepped Thurston with his freakish kick.
AT A GLANCE
NORTH QUEENSLAND COWBOYS 20 (Lachlan Coote, Coen Hess, Javid Bowen, Gavin Cooper tries; Johnathan Thurston 2 goals) bt CANBERRA RAIDERS 16 (Joey Leilua 2, Zac Santo tries; Aidan Sezer 2 goals) in extra time at 1300SMILES Stadium at Townsville. Referees: Ben Cummins, Chris Sutton. Crowd: 17,548.
Originally published on The Sydney Morning Herald as NRL: Johnathan Thurston's freakish kick wins it for North Queensland Cowboys against Canberra Raiders.
2 comments
New User? Sign up