Canberra will appeal the $10,000 breach notice served by the ARL Commission following coach David Furner’s criticism of the referees in Sunday’s 18-12 NRL loss to Manly.
Furner confirmed on Tuesday he would fight the fine, saying at no point had he intended to question the integrity of referees Jared Maxwell and Tony de las Heras.
“We’re definitely going to appeal it,” Furner told reporters.
“I certainly thought on the day what my belief was. I expressed that in the press conference, so that’s where I’ll leave it.”
Furner was furious following the loss at Brookvale Oval after his side was on the wrong end of an 8-3 penalty count.
“What I look at is the overall penalty count – 8-3 – now we’re not nearly a three times worse side in discipline than Manly,” Furner said after the game.
“I don’t think anybody expected us to come here and win … maybe not them (referees).”
But when asked if he had questioned the integrity of the referees, Furner responded: “No, and I said no to that question when asked.”
Furner took his concerns to referees’ coach Stuart Raper to express his displeasure with a number of controversial calls from the close loss – including a missed knock on by Sea Eagles winger Jorge Taufua late in the game.
“They’re vital in the context of the game and at that time, they were momentum changes,” Furner said.
On Monday, Raper’s fellow referees’ boss Bill Harrigan conceded the Raiders had been hard done by on the Taufua knock on, but not on the penalty count.
“Some people perceive that the penalty count should be even, but penalties are there for a reason. They are there simply to stop teams infringing,” Harrigan wrote in his NRL.com column.
“If they infringe on the rules they will be penalised.
“That is why referees will not look for an even penalty count; their job is to enforce the rules and when they are broken, the referee will blow a penalty.
“If one team infringes more than the other, they will be penalised more.”
The ARLC said Furner, like all coaches, officials and players, was within his rights to criticise decisions by referees but had overstepped the mark on this occasion.
“Coaches have the right to criticise a referee’s performance and to express their views but questioning a match official’s integrity is unacceptable,” ARLC general manager of football operations Nathan McGuirk said.
“There was a clear inference in Mr Furner’s comments that the match officials had a pre-determined view of the result of the game.”