Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy is confident the champions of an NRL season dominated by refereeing controversy will be determined by players and coaches rather than officials in Sunday’s grand final.

Throughout the NRL season the standard of refereeing has been under the spotlight as coaches, players and fans alike have bemoaned a bewildering series of officiating blunders.

That pressure has only continued to mount during the final series as referees bosses have been forced to admit to a number of poor decisions.

However five-time grand final coach Bellamy said the 2012 premiers could easily be decided by a mistake from a player or coach rather than the referees.

“That (mistakes) can always happen but it could be a bad play from one of our players or one of the Bulldogs players or one of the coaches that could turn the game,” Bellamy said at the NRL grand final breakfast on Thursday.

“So the referees are exactly like the coaches, exactly like all the players, they have a role to play and I’m sure they will be very, very focused on playing their role the best they can.”

A Michael Oldfield try in Manly’s semi-final win over North Queensland, despite a clear Kieran Foran knock-on in the lead-up, and the awarding of a controversial Billy Slater try in Melbourne’s preliminary final win over the Sea Eagles last week have continued to erode confidence in the men in the middle.

But Bellamy is hopeful there will be no repeat in the year’s biggest game.

“Hopefully they (the referees) will get most of the decisions right,” he said.

“But to put a whole heap of pressure on them (doesn’t help) … obviously some of it to be quite honest has been a little bit deserved but I’m sure they don’t go out there to make errors and they will really be focused on what their job is on Sunday.

“They will be very determined to do the best they can and that is all that we can ask for really.”