It went exactly to the script predicted by Canberra coach Ricky Stuart after their 12-10 loss to St George Illawarra in terrible conditions in Wollongong on Sunday.

The NRL referees department apologised to Stuart on Monday.

But NRL football boss Graham Annesley stopped short of saying the officials lacked the courage to make tough calls.

Stuart was unimpressed the Green Machine had been denied a chance to send the game into extra-time.

But the NRL's admissions don't help the Raiders now. They still miss out on the two premiership points and are still four points adrift of the top eight.

It was a massive result in the context of both teams' seasons and could have big repercussions in shaping the final top eight.

To make matters worse, Annesley also said not only should Ben Hunt have been penalised three times in the final six seconds of the Dragons' controversial win, but he should have been sin-binned, too. On all three occasions.

That meant the Green Machine would have been one man up in extra-time if they had converted the penalty goal from directly in front to send the match into golden point.

Not that any of this surprised Furner. He's seen it too many times.

"It's happened to us before. It feels like it happens to us more," he said.

"I think Rick summed it up in the press conference where he said we'll get an apology today.

"For me, and a lot of people watching, that it wasn't even a 50-50 call. That was a mandatory penalty every day of the week."

MORE RAIDERS NEWS

Annesley said Hunt had committed three fouls in the dying seconds - firstly for being offside, then for flopping on Raiders prop Joe Tapine and finally for not being square at marker after tackling Tapine.

That enabled him to dart out and tackle Raiders hooker Tom Starling at dummy half just before referee Peter Gough blew full-time.

Annesley then added not only should all three have been penalties - to give the Raiders a shot at goal to level the score and send it into extra-time - but Hunt should've been sent to the bin for 10 minutes as well.

The Dragons should've been a man short for all of golden point if Raiders halfback Jamal Fogarty had've kicked the goal.

"We believe that a penalty should've been awarded in this instance," Annesley said on Monday.

"There's three incidents ... any of those three could've been determined to be a professional foul and could've resulted in not only a penalty, but a sin bin.

"I would never say a referee's not brave otherwise they wouldn't be on the field, but he decided in this case a penalty wasn't warranted and we disagree with that assessment."

We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: