NZ Kiwis and Melbourne Storm hooker Brandon Smith was sent to the sin-bin for showing dissent to the referee, as his side fell to a 28-6 defeat to Cronulla Sharks.
As the Storm had the ball on attack, down 20-0 midway through the second half, Smith was given his marching orders for comments in the direction of referee Adam Gee.
Smith's sin-binning was just another blow for the Storm, who let in six tries on their way to their second straight loss and fifth of the season.
Cronulla centre Jesse Ramien was the Sharks star with a hat-trick of tries, with Blayke Brailey, Ronaldo Mulitalo and Sione Katoa also scoring tries.
Alec MacDonald grabbed a late consolation effort for the Storm to ensure his side would end their evening with some points on the board.
Smith explained his sin-binning and apologised to Gee for his actions.
"It was me just getting frustrated," he said. "I lost my temper and it's very disappointing on my behalf.
"I'll let someone else tell you what I said. I let, not only myself, but all my teammates down and that's not good enough on my behalf.
"I just lost my cool at the time and have got to be better than that. [Gee] was all good, he just said he couldn't cop that and I just said, 'sorry for taking the frustrations out on you'.
"I was annoyed at my own performance and it's not good enough."
Defeat leaves the Storm third on the NRL ladder, with 11 wins and five defeats this season, behind North Queensland Cowboys on points differential.
