NRL: Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart confident no repeat of sin-bin mayhem

The Canberra Raiders coach also thinks players are laying down to milk penalties, pointing to the Matt Lodge penalty that cost the Green Machine earlier in the season.

Stuart backed top NRL referee Ashley Klein, who was in charge of South Sydney's elimination final victory over the Sydney Roosters where seven players were sin-binned.

That Rabbitohs-Roosters clash has polarised fans - some loving its brutal physicality that harked back to the good old days, while others felt it crossed the line and should be consigned to the past.

Everyone's been blamed - the players, the referee and the bunker.

Klein has the whistle for the Raiders' knockout semi-final against the Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium on Friday night.

A win would see Stuart and the Green Machine make their third preliminary final in four years, which would be against the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville Friday week.

No Stuart-coached team that's made the finals has fallen short of the prelim - getting to the penultimate game in all of his seven finals campaigns, including four grand finals and one premiership.

When asked whether he would talk to his players about their discipline, Stuart backed Klein and said he didn't need to talk to his team.

"I don't think you'll see a similar sort of thing. It's the players' responsibility and I haven't approached it with the boys because I don't think I need to," Stuart said.

"I'll be very surprised. It won't happen. There won't be a repeat of last week.

"It had nothing to do with Ashley Klein. I thought Ashley Klein controlled and handled the situation extremely well as an experienced ref.

"It's the players' responsibility not to fall into that type of behaviour."

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There's also been criticism of some players for laying down to attract the attention of the bunker to high contact - no matter how minor it was.

Stuart had no doubt it was happening and pointed to the Raiders' loss to the Warriors in Redcliffe.

Lodge stayed down after copping some minor high contact, the resultant penalty in the dying seconds levelling the score and sending the game to golden point.

The Warriors then won in extra-time through a Shaun Johnson field goal.

Lodge has parted ways with the Warriors since then and finished the season playing for the Roosters on Sin-bin Sunday.

"Yeah, that happens," Stuart said.

"You should ask Matt Lodge what laying down is all about. That's how we lost the game of football at Redcliffe.

"So I'd be silly to say there's no laying down."

NRL SEMI-FINAL

Friday: Canberra Raiders v Parramatta Eels at Parramatta Stadium, 7.50pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Nick Cotric, 3. Matt Timoko, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Jamal Fogarty, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Zac Woolford, 10. Joe Tapine, 11. Hudson Young, 12. Elliott Whitehead (c), 13. Corey Harawira-Naera. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Emre Guler, 16. Corey Horsburgh, 17. Ryan Sutton. Reserves: 18. Albert Hopoate, 19. Ata Mariota, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Peter Hola, 22. Charnze Nicoll-Klokstad.

Eels squad: 1. Clinton Gutherson, 2. Maika Sivo, 3. Viliami Penisini, 4. Tom Opacic, 5. Waqa Blake, 6. Dylan Brown, 7. Mitchell Moses, 8. Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 9. Reed Mahoney, 10. Junior Paulo, 11. Shaun Lane, 12. Isaiah Papali'i, 13. Ryan Matterson. Interchange: 14. Makahesi Makatoa, 15. Jakob Arthur, 16. Oregon Kaufusi, 17. Marata Niukore. Reserves: 18. Nathan Brown, 19. Bailey Simonsson, 20. Bryce Cartwright, 21. Ofahiki Ogden, 22. Ky Rodwell.

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