Canberra Raiders to lodge complaint with NRL over Cronulla Sharks trainer

The NRL has shown in the past it will crack down on trainers spending excessive time on the field, fining Parramatta after an Eels assistant coach ran in front of the goalposts as Penrith’s Nathan Cleary attempted a sideline conversion.

Trainer Steve Murphy was shown on vision to be sprinting near the sticks as Cleary kicked for goal. His attempt missed and the Eels ended up winning the match by two points at BlueBet Stadium in 2022.

The NRL originally handed the Eels a breach notice of $5000 and warned all clubs about trainers being on the field when not necessary. There is no suggestion Murphy ran in front of the goalposts to intentionally distract Cleary.

In the post-match press conference on Sunday night, Raiders coach Ricky Stuart was more concerned with the capitulation of his players after they surrendered an 18-0 lead to go down to the Sharks.

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“We were winning 18-0 playing poorly,” Stuart said after the game. “We played a patch of 12 or 14 minutes of half-decent football, outside of that we were embarrassing. It was awful. We worked too hard in the off-season, that’s not us, that’s definitely not us, but tonight it was.

“We’ve worked too hard and changed a lot of those real bad habits that crept in there tonight and that’s what I’ve got to deal with now and get it back out of us because we started the season really well and that was abysmal. We won’t be forgetting tonight real quick, I can promise you. It was really poor and it’ll be dealt with.”

Meanwhile, the Bulldogs will also seek clarification from the NRL as to why South Sydney’s Isaiah Tass wasn’t sent to the sin bin just before halftime for holding down Kurt Mann in a tackle with the team deep on the attack in the final 70 seconds of the half.

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