Dawson apologises but stands by opinion

Raiders’ head coach Dawson has apologised to the referee as well, although still believes Raiders should have been awarded a penalty - not a second free kick - when his side trailed 32-31 in the last minute.

He said: “I’d like to say that my behaviour at the end of the game wasn’t acceptable and I went to the referee after the game and apologised.

“I wasn’t rude to the referee, I didn’t swear, I didn’t call him any names, I simply questioned his decision. But I was very vociferous and that wasn’t right.

“He didn’t take offence, he didn’t want to make a complaint and there was no animosity. We had a long discussion and he accepted my apology and my opinion.

“He said he’d given the second free kick because one of their their players had not gone back ten. But there was another player 15 metres away, who hadn’t retreated and he stepped in and intentionally blocked, so we couldn’t get the ball away.

“My opinion was that it was intentional and should have been a yellow card and a penalty for cynical play.

“I’ve since watched the video and I 100 per cent stand by my opinion.”