Parramatta coach Brad Arthur claims Ivan Cleary's pre-finals comments may have had an influence on referees, as he rued a number of key moments in the Eels' 8-6 semi-finals loss to Penrith.
For the second straight week Penrith's finals match had a dramatic post-script, with Arthur clearly frustrated following his side's season-ending loss.
The main point of contention centred around whether Parramatta had two players taken out during a rare break in the second half.
Mitch Moses was clearly removed from play by Jarome Luai as he chased, while there could also have been a claim that Will Penisini was taken out in a contest for the loose ball.
The Eels were also clearly frustrated on field when play was stopped with four minutes to go when Mitch Kenny suffered a foot injury.
Kenny was 10 metres behind play, but trainers do have the right to stop the game if they are dealing with a serious injury.
When running through his casualty ward post-match coach Cleary confirmed Kenny's injury was "pretty serious".
But still, Arthur was clearly frustrated by the outcome of the match.
"There has been a bit of complaining over the past couple of weeks, and they got what they were after off the back of the whingeing," Arthur said.
"It might have helped them tonight. That's alright, I'm just proud of the boys.
"We'll just get on with it and go on to next year."
When asked directly about the stoppage for Kenny's injury, Arthur spoke on several issues through the game.
"They're trying to make the game faster, but how many stoppages were there tonight when we were starting to get on top?" Arthur said.
"A 7-2 penalty count, and the bunker gets involved for what reasons?
"But then we make a linebreak out of back field, we get down there. Will Penisini gets tackled off the ball.
"Mitch Moses running down there to chase, he gets tackled down there in the background off the ball."
Cleary's comments last week had not centred around referees' performance, and only a plea for the NRL to look after kickers.
He also claimed his team had been roughed up by South Sydney, before Rabbitohs coach Wayne Bennett unleashed on the topic of kick blockers.
Cleary then claimed after his team's qualifying final loss to Souths that Bennett had influenced referees.
He had not spoken publicly on the issue this week and admitted he was unsure what Arthur was getting at when told of the comments.
"I made a comment in what I believe in last week," Cleary said.
"I don't know how that helped us, I didn't speak to anyone this week."
Australian Associated Press
