One New Zealand chief executive Jason Paris has accused NRL match officials of cheating, in the wake of NZ Warriors' 18-6 defeat to Penrith Panthers on Saturday.
As the Kiwi side slipped to a third straight NRL defeat in an 11-day span, the Warriors saw not one, but two players sent to the sin bin.
In the second half of Saturday's loss, Jackson Ford was sent to the bin for a hip drop tackle on Spencer Leniu, while rookie forward Demetric Sifakula was shown his marching orders for retaliating against Penrith halfback Nathan Cleary for a tackle on Josh Curran.
However, Ford's tackle was ruled to have not met the threshold for further action, subsequently escaping suspension, while Warriors coach Andrew Webster questioned the sin-binning of Sifakula, given he struck Cleary with an open palm.
The calls, in combination with incidents going against the Warriors in losses to Melbourne Storm - where Dylan Walker was sin-binned - and Sydney Roosters, who saw forward Sitili Tupouniua escape punishment for a shoulder charge, saw Paris unleash against NRL officiating on social media.
"Are you kidding me? How biased are the @NRL bunker and referees against the @NZWarriors?" Paris posted on Twitter.
"Have they got money on them to lose? It's like we are permanently against 14 on the field and they want us to play with 12.
"It's absolutely outrageous and so incredibly frustrating. Imagine how the team feel - three games in 11 days and then this rubbish. Cheating of the highest order."
Paris is the chief executive of One New Zealand, formerly Vodafone NZ - the Warriors' naming sponsor.
After refusing to blame referees for last Sunday's defeat to the Roosters, Webster again played down the impact of decisions on the result, joking that media put money into a hat to help him pay any fine incurred from criticism towards officials.
