Ricky Stuart slams officiating after Raiders' loss to Dolphins

Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has slammed "confusing" officiating as his side were beaten 30-22 defeat by the Dolphins on Thursday night.

Stuart did not answer questions, but delivered a short, unscripted statement blasting inconsistencies in the NRL before walking out.

"I was very proud of how they [the team] performed, and the better team won," Stuart said in his post-match press conference.

"But the game has interpretations and rules and in place at the moment where we pick them and choose when we apply them, and it's a very frustrating situation for those who are involved as players and coaches.

"It's disappointing to say the least, but I'm just so confused at the moment in regards to… I mean, you can't have a rule and apply it one week and not the next week.

"I've never been so confused and it's disappointing, because I love the game."

For his part, Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf acknowledged that a couple of 50:50 calls went his side's way.

"There's always 50-50 calls, there's always things that," Woolf said.

"There's a couple in the second half there that I thought we'd probably have go our way to make a bit of a difference, but that's every game. It doesn't stop you from scoring tries, it doesn't mean that you can't stop tries as well."

Woolf was thrilled with his depleted team who, despite missing six first-team starters through injury and Origin, won a fourth-straight NRL game for the very first time.

Fullback Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, winger Selwyn Cobbo, prop Thomas Flegler and lock Max Plath were all missing from the Dolphins ranks due to Queensland Origin call ups, while centre Herbie Farnworth and five-eighth Kodi Nikorima were both missing due to hamstring issues.

But, thanks to a delightfully assured display from Isaiya Katoa, backed up by huge contributions from his edge forwards, the Dolphins never looked rattled to move further into the top eight, while the Raiders fell to a second consecutive defeat either side of the bye.

The game starter chaotically for the Raiders, with Jed Stuart opening the scoring just minutes after being told he would start in place of Seb Kris, who was injured in the warm up.

That added to the Raiders' defensive instability, provided by the absence of Ethan Strange and Hudson Young who are both away in Blues Origin camp.

However, it was their porous defence and woeful ill-discipline that proved most costly, with no glaring incident in the game seemingly egregious to be singled out by Stuart in the aftermath.

The Dolphins hit back through Tevita Naufahu soon after, before Corey Horsburgh benefited from a ball that bounced twice on the cross bar before falling in his lap.

After that end-to-end start though, three-straight tries for the Dolphins opened up a gap the Raiders could never close, as Morgan Knowles, Jamayne Isaako and Ray Stone all scored in the space of 12 minutes.

The Raiders reduced the gap just before the break through a Savelio Tamale try, and then scored the first try of the second half through Zac Hosking to reduce the deficit to just two points.

However, Brad Schneider bustled through the Raiders defence to score the clincher, before Raiders ill-discipline counted against them in the finale.

Meanwhile, Queensland's Origin stars said they hope Jai Arrow will accept an invitation to join them in camp after his MND diagnosis.

After the match, Matty Johns broke down on his Fox Sports show following the game when talking about Arrow's diagnosis.

"It's heartbreaking. We're really thinking of you.

"There's nothing else to say other than life's f***** sometimes."

Stuart started his statement with an ode to Arrow, saying that although the ex-Maroons forward has "got a massive fight on his hands … he's certainly got the rugby league world supporting him."

Look back on how all the action unfolded in our live blog.