Warriors coach Andrew Webster has doubled down on his critique of the NRL’s match officials, suggesting his good nature makes the Warriors easy targets for referees to “pick on”.

 

Webster was incensed after Canterbury captain Stephen Crichton avoided the sin bin for making shoulder contact with the head of Warriors’ veteran Roger Tuivasa-Sheck during Friday’s game.

The shot forced Tuivasa-Sheck on to the sidelines and left the Warriors to reconfigure their backline, opening the door for the Bulldogs to take the lead and eventually win 34-18.

Webster was scathing in his assessment of the non-call after the game, saying the bunker referees “need to know what they’re doing. I actually don’t think they know”.

“I’m struggling to understand how a shoulder can go into Roger’s head and the bunker’s got ages to see it in a critical time of the game,” Webster said.

“We’ve got to protect our players and I just don’t see the consistency one little bit around that.”

NRL head of football Graham Annesley has since described the decision not to advise the on-field referee to sin-bin Crichton as a “serious error of judgment” from bunker official Liam Kennedy.

Kennedy has been dropped from the bunker for round 26 and will also not oversee any games as head referee.