Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo admits he has been left “confused” by the rules after his side had a last-ditch try allowed in their six-point loss to the Storm.
Trailing 20-14 in the 79th minute, Bulldogs skipper Stephen Crichton knocked a ball on just before he grounded it for a would-be try.
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While it’s clear Crichton knocked it on, Storm centre Marion Seve put his arm out in front of the Bulldogs star as he was trying to play at the ball.
The Bunker ruled it as a fair play though, believing it was incidental contact as Seve was also going for the ball.
The Storm received the ball from the Crichton knock on and held onto it for the final 60 seconds to win the game.
Ciraldo was asked about the incident post-match.
“The whole kick contest again, that’s really confusing. You touch him when they’re in the air and it’s a penalty a and then you’re allowed to put your arm out and stop them going for a catch,” Ciraldo said.
“I actually don’t know. I don’t get a great look at it but I’ll probably send it in (to the NRL) during the week.
“I sent a heap in last week and it doesn’t really help but at least we can try and educate our players on what you’re actually looking for, I suppose.”
The Bulldogs may have lost the game, but Ciraldo said there’s a lot his team can hang their hat on.
Trailing by 12 at half time, the Dogs made a game of it after the break, giving the Storm all they could handle. They got within six but found Melbourne a touch too clinical when the moments were there to be won.
“Yeah, it was really good to be involved in a game like that and it’ll be really good to learn those lessons after being involved in a game like that, but that’s the main thing,” Ciraldo said.
“We know we can play at a high level. We know we can play in those style of games, but we need to learn the lessons to make sure next time we get those opportunities we are icing them.
“I was stoked with a lot of our game. There’s a lot of good stuff, particularly defensively.
“We probably had some moments where they were starting to get some momentum but we scrambled well and worked hard. But as I said earlier, there’s going to be a heap of lessons there for us, for us to get better and it’s up to us to take them.”
The loss means the Bulldogs are all but locked into third spot, meaning they’ll play an away qualifying final in Canberra or Melbourne in the first week of the finals.
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