Canberra have worn the blame for the avalanche of penalties they conceded in Saturday's thrilling golden point NRL loss to North Queensland, conceding the whistleblowers got it right.
A frustrated Raiders coach Ricky Stuart made pointed comments about the standard of officiating after a freak Gavin Cooper try iced the Cowboys' win in Townsville on Saturday.
He lamented a 11-4 penalty count that forced his side to make 108 more tackles than their opposition, adding the Cowboys should have won by four tries.
"I can't believe how we hung in there right to the end with some of the things that happened to the team tonight, I just shake my head," Stuart said post-game.
However Raiders utility Elliott Whitehead took a softer stance after re-watching the game on Monday, saying they were to blame for their own ill discipline.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"Ricky spoke to us after the game and blew his head off about giving penalties away and stuff," Whitehead said.
"We watched it again this morning, we've all looked at the penalties and the refs probably made the right call on nine out of 10 of those penalties.
"It's our own fault. We need to fix that up now and learn for this week because we can't afford to keep giving the penalties away."
The Raiders were on the wrong end of a number of decisive calls including Whitehead being denied a match-winning try because of a forward pass.
Prop Clay Priest was sin-binned for a crusher tackle on Justin O'Neill and will miss Saturday's clash with Cronulla because of suspension.
"(Stuart) was just disappointed we gave that many penalties away," forward Dunamis Lui said.
"We've just got to cool our heads a bit and it's something we need to work on."
