James Tedesco claims he's sick of the Sydney Roosters being victims of foul play, with Parramatta five-eighth Dylan Brown facing up to a four-game ban for appearing to thrust his knees into Drew Hutchison.
The fallout from the Roosters' controversial 31-18 loss to the Eels continued on Saturday, after coach Trent Robinson called on the NRL to practise what they preach.
Bunker official Steve Chiddy was dropped for the rest of the weekend, with head of football Graham Annesley "extremely unhappy".
The bunker somehow missed Brown sliding knees-first into opposite number Hutchison, leaving him with broken ribs and a possible punctured lung.
The incident formed part of a try review that was already sent to video officials, but the footage was cut off before the contact.
It meant Brown was only put on report after halftime and not sin-binned, while Marata Niukore also stayed on the field despite a high shot on Tedesco in the same play.
Brown was on Saturday charged with grade-three dangerous contact and faces at least three weeks out, with the ban to go to a fourth match if he unsuccessfully fights it.
Niukore is also looking at a two-game ban, which will rise to three if he fights it and fails.
But that does little to help the hurting Roosters.
Tedesco was only just returning from concussion after a high shot on Anzac Day in Friday night's loss when hit by Niukore.
And when asked if he was growing frustrated by the repeated foul play, the captain responded: "Yes.
"It happened to Drew and I was the same and there were a few others as well.
"I don't know what we can do about it because you can only say so much to the ref and hopefully they make the right calls.
"There's not much we can do. We can only play footy and not dwell on it too much, especially during the game."
Tedesco said he was miffed as to why Brown was not sanctioned at the time, given a sin-bin would've meant the Roosters could've enacted 18th man Joseph Suaalii.
"(Referee Matt) Cecchin said at halftime that he didn't see that and that he only saw my one," Tedesco said.
"I told him a fair few times that he was leading with the knees, but then there wasn't a call on that which was quite confusing.
"I don't know what more the players can do."
The incidents came just days after the NRL sent an email to clubs and officials encouraging the use of the sin-bin for contact with the head or neck.
The edict came amid a rise in head injuries, with charges for such incidents up 700 per cent over the first six rounds of this season compared to 2017.
"Don't send a letter and then not back it up," Robinson said.
"That incident (with Brown and Hutchison) wasn't good enough from the bunker and the referees.
"It's ridiculous. That's incompetent."
In response, Annesley on Saturday admitted the officials were not good enough.
"(Referees boss) Jared (Maxwell) and I were extremely unhappy about a number of decisions which occurred throughout the game," Annesley said.
"As a result, the bunker officials involved, who were due to officiate again tonight, have been replaced. They will not officiate again in round nine.
"The performance last night did not meet our expectations."
Australian Associated Press
