"No doubt:" What refs got wrong in golden point thriller

Following the Dragons’ heartbreaking one-point loss to the Bulldogs, Chad Townsend believes that St. George Illawarra were hard done by on the penalty front.

With plenty of doubts surrounding the side following their loss to a severely weakened Rabbitohs side in their last pre-season hit out, the Dragons put up a valiant fight against the Bulldogs in Las Vegas on Sunday.

And they push the Dogs until the final ten seconds of golden point for the blue and white to win the match 15-14 with captain Stephen Crichton scoring the all-important field goal.

However, the Dogs were helped by referee Grant Atkins, who deemed that forward Ryan Couchman had illegally stripped Bronson Xerri of the ball in the last minute, allowing them to gain possession deep within their own half.

Speaking after their loss, Flanagan felt particularly aggrieved by the ball strip penalty decision that Couchman conceded in the 88th minute, believing it should have been a loose carry.

“It’s a loose carry every day of the week, without a doubt,” the 2016 Premiership coach said.

“There’s that, there’s a lot of others as well. We didn’t get the rub of the green, that’s for sure. As I said, just disappointing but it wasn’t decided in my view the right way.”

Flanagan wasn't the only one upset by the call with Dragons officials set to lodge a formal complaint over five refereing decisions throughout the course of the match.

Speaking about Couchman's penalty, Townsend would be in agreement with his former coach.  

“I think he is well within his rights to be upset with the call,” he explained on SEN’s Kick Off.

“The game was decided on the back of the call. There was no doubt that they did not get the rub of the green last night.”

Jimmy Smith then proceeded to run through some of the calls that went against the Dragons.  

“So, Ryan Couchman’s tackle on Bronson Xerri (should have been) a loose carry, we all thought loose carry,” Smith said.

“Let’s say that there were ten (contentious calls).

“Jaydn Su’A’s high shot on Matt Burton, that was a play of the ball.

“(Viliame) Kikau late on the half back (Daniel Aktinson), that was not given as a penalty.

“Luciano Leilua’s penalty (on Jacob Preston) probably could have gone either way. I agree with the penalty that he was given.

“Stephen Crichton’s hit on Setu Tu, like earlier in the day, we saw Braidon Burns (on Kalyn Ponga) get sent to the sin bin for something very similar.

“We reckon out of the ten contentious decisions in the game, eight went the way of the Bulldogs.”

The Dragons won’t play until March 14 when they host the Melbourne Storm at WIN Stadium.

While the Bulldogs will have an extended break as they have the bye in Round 2.