Raiders coach Ricky Stuart fumes over obstruction call; Corey Horsburgh sin bin

Ricky Stuart has called for answers from NRL CEO Andrew Abdo after his side was on the wrong end of the six again-count, as well as a costly obstruction call that denied the Canberra Raiders a crucial try against Manly.

In a nightmare trip to Brookvale Oval, everything seemed to be falling apart for the Raiders as Manly surged to a 40-12 victory in front of a home crowd.

A game-changing moment late in the first half left Stuart pleading for an answer as the consistency of match officials comes back into question.

READ MORE: Piastri tops perfect weekend with first win of the season

READ MORE: Bunnies mascot accused of pushing child at match

READ MORE: Aussie high jumpers win gold and silver on historic day

Before either team had scored, Seb Kris raced away after a short pass from halfback Jamal Fogarty and weaved around Lehi Hopoate to plant the ball down.

But the centre’s brilliant effort was overturned by the Bunker, which ruled Corey Horsburgh had obstructed Manly skipper Daly Cherry-Evans in the build up to the try.

The Bunker’s ruling declared Horsburgh’s interference opened a hole in Manly’s defence meaning the try as not to be awarded.

Canberra hooker Tom Starling delivered a cheeky response to referee Grant Atkins after the decision was ruled

“You’ve got to be consistent then,” he said.

Starling’s comments were not taken lightly by Atkins.

Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now.

“The side eye from Grant Atkins, that was worth the price of admission itself,” Warren Smith said on Fox League.

Stuart brought up the decision during his press conference.

“What did you think of the decision of having our try disallowed?” he asked reporters.

“After 20 minutes of having no football and we get a set around halfway and we score a wonderful try (and it’s disallowed). It’s really difficult coaching when you don’t know the rules, you don’t know interpretations because I’ve got no idea.”

Stuart said the “whole game changed” in that moment.

“I wasted two days coming up here,” he said.

Canberra conceded 10 penalties to four, while they were punished for six ruck infringements to Manly’s one.

Stuart wasn’t happy when discussing those figures.

“I don’t think there is a football team in the competition that is going to defend those statistics,” Stuart said.

“I’m not allowed to talk about the ref, but I hope Andrew Abdo has an answer for us all.

“When you look at it statistically, we had to make 200 and something tackles in the first half to 70. You can’t be ahead on the scoreboard with that.”

Horsburgh was also sin-binned later for not getting onside after a six again call. It lead to 24 points for Manly in the first half.

Stuart refused to comment on whether he believed it was correct.

“They’ll tell me it was correct, it doesn’t matter,” 58-year-old said.

“I’m better off not answering questions. (It was) massive, when you’ve got those statistics and one player taken off.”