Furner was axed on Tuesday after a hat-trick of consecutive defeats and amid speculation of a player revolt leading to his downfall.

Tongue believed the Raiders should have stuck with Furner until the end of the year rather than cut ties while the finals were still in reach.

‘‘I can’t see how sacking the coach with three games to go, clinging to a finals spot, is going to help them,’’ Tongue told ABC Radio.

‘‘If you are going to review the whole system and the coaching staff, why not wait until the end of the season.

‘‘If it is the players and it is their voice, they should come out and win by 60 over Manly if [the coach] is the problem.’’

Tongue led the Raiders during Furner’s first three years in charge from 2009 to 2011 before retiring after 220 first-grade games for the Green Machine.

Furner had a 43 per cent winning record in five drama-filled seasons at the helm of the Raiders where he’s had to deal with repeated off-field issues, featuring former fullback Josh Dugan and wayward star Blake Ferguson.

‘‘You look at the coaching record of Dave and you can wear [the criticism], but I don’t think it should be the fact he’s given too much leniency to players that have misbehaved,’’ Tongue said.

‘‘We’ve heard from [Raiders chairman] John McIntyre speaking about how they’re going to keep supporting Blake Ferguson over and over again and how they’re going to keep working with Josh.

‘‘It’s the board who makes the decision on whether they sack or keep a player, [but] Dave’s copped the full brunt of it.’’