He's the most-pinged man in the NRL and gave away two dubious yet costly penalties in NSW's heartbreaking State of Origin II loss in Sydney.
Yet, James Maloney is refusing to blame the whistleblowers for the handful of crucial calls on Wednesday night which cruelled his side.
The Blues five-eighth and Cronulla teammate Wade Graham conceded penalties which led indirectly to key four-pointers to Queensland's Valentine Holmes and Dane Gagai in the Blues' 18-16 loss.
Maloney was pulled up by the referees in the fourth minute after an alleged strip on Cooper Cronk.
The 82,259 Blues fans at ANZ Stadium broke out into a chant of "bull****" as the Maroons were given a piggyback downfield and scored in the corner through Holmes.
Maloney was again penalised in the eighth minute for an off-the-ball push on Billy Slater which even Queensland legend and former coach Paul Vautin admitted was dubious.
Slater appeared to take a dive, however Maloney came into the series knowing he was going to be closely scrutinised by the referees due to his habit of giving away penalties.
This year, he is the most-penalised player in the game, having conceded 21 - seven more than Sydney Roosters prop Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
"(Penalties) didn't decide the game - we decided the game and we needed to be better," Maloney said.
"If we had have got to completions in that last 15 minutes, it would have been a different story.
"We seemed to get to halfway and have a turnover and, when we got down there, they got a penalty so they seemed to spend 15 minutes in our end.
"They're too good a side, you give them opportunities time and time again and, eventually, they'll get the job done."
Cronulla go into round 16 as the second-most penalised side, having given away an average of 7.3 per game (only behind Melbourne with 7.8).
It was again another Shark who gave the Maroons a leg-up which led to Gagai's match-winning 77th minute try.
With Queensland pinned down their own end, Graham raced up to try to put a big hit on Dylan Napa. The ball came loose and it appeared Graham was simply trying to effect a tackle, however the on-field referees ruled it was stripped.
The Maroons went up the other end, earned a repeat set before delivering the coup de grace through Gagai.
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