Ricky Stuart criticizes NRL refereeing after Raiders' loss

Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart expressed his anger with the refereeing after his team lost 40-12 to the Manly Sea Eagles. He criticized the officiating and said he no longer understands the rules of rugby league. Stuart pointed out that his team had a 7-1 disadvantage in set restarts and only had possession 25 percent of the time in the first half. He remarked, "I hope Andrew Abdo has an answer for us all," referring to the NRL chief executive. Stuart highlighted that defending against such statistics is nearly impossible. His team had to make 212 tackles in the first half, which he believes contributed significantly to their loss. He noted inconsistencies in how rules were applied during the game. He felt a crucial moment was when a try for the Raiders was disallowed due to obstruction. Shortly after that, a Canberra player was sin-binned, leading to a quick succession of tries for Manly. Stuart noted the difficulty of coaching when the rules are unclear. Meanwhile, Sea Eagles coach Anthony Seibold chose not to comment on Stuart's remarks. He noted that his team had also faced challenges with the penalty count in a previous match.