Skipper Elliott Whitehead was put on report for a tackle on Dragons forward Blake Lawrie, but there was some confusion around what exactly he may be charged with by the NRL match review committee.

Whitehead was bringing down Lawrie when the Raider pulled him back, awkwardly twisting the Dragons prop's knee which was caught underneath.

"The weight goes on the back of his legs, it's on report," referee Adam Gee told a protesting Whitehead as Lawrie lay on the turf in discomfort.

"It's the weight on his legs."

Fox Sports commentators were perplexed with the penalty, calling it "a variation of the hip-drop".

"I think he used his leg as leverage to pull the player back," league legend Greg Alexander said.

"It's unfortunate Lawrie was on his knees at the time. It can be construed as being dangerous, but I don't think so.

"I don't think there's anything saying you can't use your leg as leverage to pull the player back."

Whitehead was just as baffled by the referee's decision.

"I didn't think I did anything wrong," he said in the post-game press conference.

"I think Jamal [Fogarty] pushed [Lawrie] back over Elliott, so I don't think there's any issue there," added Canberra assistant coach Brett White.

The last time these two teams met, the Dragons were lucky not to concede a penalty at the death, sealing them a controversial two-point win over Canberra.

In almost identical circumstances in the final seconds, it was the Raiders who might have been guilty of a ruck infringement before their victory, courtesy of Corey Harawira-Naera's slight shove on Mathew Feagai as the winger attempted to get up to play the ball at Canberra's 15-metre line.

"Should he have been binned? Probably - because it's a professional foul," Alexander said in commentary.

Dragons coach Anthony Griffin summed up the moment diplomatically.

"It's probably a bit ironic, isn't it?" Griffin said. "We just ran out of time.

"We just needed one more play the ball, but that's just the way the world works."

In the lead-up to the game on Sunday, Whitehead said a key part of the Raiders' game plan would be stopping Dragons halfback Ben Hunt "kicking them to death".

Hunt certainly had his moments once again with a neat 40-20 bamboozling Raiders fullback Xavier Savage, and a perfectly-weighted grubber forcing a drop-out by grazing Jordan Rapana's chest before going dead.

There was also an incredible 20-40 from Hunt which set up the Dragons into field position for their third try of the game.

But the Raiders did well to defuse Hunt where they could, especially under the high ball, and Ryan Sutton's charge-down solo try was an obvious highlight.

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