Hasler expecting call from Annesley after ref outburst

Manly coach Des Hasler says he's expecting a call from NRL head of football Graham Annesley after he heavily criticised the officials following his side's 18-10 loss to Newcastle on Sunday evening.

In an at-times spiteful clash, Manly were on the wrong end of a 2-1 sin bin count (with Newcastle's coming in the final seconds of the match) as well as a 9-1 penalty count.

Manly players were placed on report five times during the match and Hasler believed the one-sided penalty count was down to "a bit of our ill-discipline and a bit of interpretation".

"It's very difficult with a 9-0 penalty count – I think we got our first penalty in the last 11 seconds," Hasler said.

"Benny Cummins is a much better referee than that. A much better referee than that. First of all there's an issue there, the fact we couldn't buy some retribution as far as field position was concerned.

"We were doing OK, we were cruising at 10-0 and I've already admitted we were a little bit ill-disciplined. Let's go to the sin bins. I don't quite understand the rule about the sin bin.

"Our player attacked the head, on report, 10 minutes. But when Marty [Taupau], when he was carrying the ball he got hit high so to come in contact with the head, forceful contact with the head, that's a sin bin and they didn't get sent to the sin bin.

"That's not a whinge or a reflection on Newcastle it's a reflection on the inconsistency in regard to that rule."

Asked if he was going to take his concerns to Annesley, Hasler said he expected to be the one receiving a call.

"I know Graham Annesley will be watching and he'll have another sleepless night tonight and he'll wake up with a headache in the morning. Games are tight, games are hard to win and if that's the way we’re going to go, we need that consistency," he added.

Of the game itself, Hasler praised his side's defensive attitude.

"I thought we defended pretty well – the 18 points against us doesn't do justice to the game," he said.

"We ran into a sizeable breeze in the first half so from a defensive point of view we were called up on to do quite a bit of D. They got that last try in the last couple of minutes.

"Well done to Newcastle, they got the two points but they were ably assisted, let's be honest in relation to that."