The NRL have admitted to a refereeing blunder which cost Canterbury the chance to push for victory in Sunday's loss to the Sydney Roosters.
NRL referees boss Tony Archer has said referee Gerard Sutton botched a decision not to give the Bulldogs another set of six on the Roosters line when they were just two points down with nine minutes to play.
Ironically, head referee Sutton originally waved his hand in the air to signal six again after Brett Morris grubbered and regathered the ball after it had bounced off the legs of Roosters fullback Michael Gordon.
In bizarre scenes, he then went back on his decision, declaring Gordon had not played at the ball after seemingly receiving a call from one of his fellow officials, though it wasn't clear whether the advice had come from assistant referee Alan Shortall or his touch judge.
Archer later said Sutton's initial call was correct and the Dogs should have been given another set.
"The referee awarded a handover to the Roosters, after having the opportunity to review the play, the referee should have awarded six more as the ball was played at by Michael Gordon," Archer said.
Instead of being given a golden opportunity to test the Roosters' line, the Tri-Colours ran up field and sealed the 24-18 win through a Mitchell Pearce try in the 76th minute.
"I thought the head referee called six again. And then he gets over-ruled by the pocket referee or the touchie," Dogs coach Des Hasler said.
"I think quite clearly the head referee has a clear call on it, (Gordon) played at the ball so I don't know how a touchie or the pocket referee could over-call a head referee.
"And I know he might have panicked a little bit because when he was asked about it by our captain (Aidan Tolman) his words were 'no I didn't call six again, my hand was up for the last'. To me his action looked like six again."
The Dogs fell out of the top eight with the loss however Hasler refused to blame the contentious call for the result.
"There might be something worth investigating there," Hasler said.
"It wasn't the reason why we didn't win the match but it was crucial. It was good field position and I thought we had good momentum."
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