NRL 2023: Dragons coach Ryan Carr blasts absolutely ridiculous Bunker calls, Jack de Belin sin

Dragons coach Ryan Carr launched a scathing attack on the Bunker, labelling it “ridiculous” following his side’s narrow 24-18 defeat to Manly.

Highlighting two key incidents from the game at key moments of the contest, the interim St George Illawarra mentor took aim at Bunker official Kasey Badger’s decisions that went against his side.

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A potential try in the second half to Dan Russell was sent upstairs as no try from referee Chris Butler when they trailed by eight.

No clear angle was presented to show the ball on the ground, with Badger supporting the on-field decision, but Carr said he was left confused by the vocabulary used during the decision-making process.

“The wording that I was given was he’s got the ball down, we just need to figure out if he’s over the tryline,” Carr said.

“The next wording was Dan Russell is clearly over the tryline and it’s contradictory to a no try.

“In a big moment it hurts. You’re fighting as hard as you can to get a try.

“If the wording was different then fair enough. All the wording added up to it being a try. I need to figure out why it wasn’t given a try.”

The sin bin of Jack de Belin was most contentious, with the lock was penalised for a hip drop after the tackle was cleared by the on-field officials, incensing Carr in the coach’s box.

Manly winger Christian Tuipulotu suffered an MCL injury in the tackle and played no further part after he was taken off.

“Jack de Belin was sin binned. The game stopped for nearly two minutes for a guy to get his knee strapped,” he said.

“That’s not the rule. It’s play on. Either leave the field or play on.

“In that moment when they made an error on halfway, we lose not only possession and field position, but we lose a man.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s absolutely ridiculous. And I feel so sorry for my players. I feel sorry for the fans who have to watch the game.

“I feel sorry for fans of rugby league in general, because that was a good game of footy out there, and a call like that has a huge bearing and impact on the game.

“It’s my job to stand up for my players and our club. I’m not going to back down from it, because it’s ridiculous.”

Carr said while he would seek clarification on the rulings, he admitted it wasn’t enough to overturn the feelings of the club.

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“Me seeking clarification doesn’t help our members or our fans or our players and their families.

“The game’s gone now. It doesn’t help us. There’s a lot of people putting in a lot of time at our club to try and find a win for our fans and our members and themselves.

“For it to come down to that, the clarification doesn’t help me. It doesn’t help us. It doesn’t help the boys.”

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