At his weekly briefing in Sydney, Annesley remarkably found fault with Raiders centre Matt Timoko, not Dolphins second-rower Tom Gilbert, in the game-levelling try that left commentators stunned on Saturday.

Gilbert's 62nd minute score erased the Raiders' lead and brought scores to 12-12 in a game where points were difficult to come by in slippery conditions up north.

Rugby league pundits were shocked Gilbert's try was not overturned by the Bunker after appearing to shove Timoko out of the way before grounding the ball, but Annesley defended the call.

And the blame was instead placed on Timoko for blocking Gilbert.

"They're both effectively running side by side for the ball and Timoko puts his body in front of Gilbert," Annesley explained while reviewing the game footage.

"Then you can notice [Timoko's] left arm is reached out, and he's effectively blocking Gilbert from trying to get to the ball,

"But of course, [Gilbert is] still trying to get to the ball.

"Through his actions he's saying, 'Let go of me, I'm trying to get to the ball'. And he's entitled to try and break free so that he can get to the ball.

"In this case Timoko is not actually at any point - or doesn't appear to be - trying to get to the ball.

"He's attempted to cover the ball, and certainly to stop Gilbert."

READ MORE:

Annesley simply concluded that Timoko was the player at greater fault in trying to defend Gilbert from scoring the try, than Gilbert was in trying to score.

"I know there was discussion about who's pushing who or who's holding who, but I think when you look at it and examine it as the Bunker did - you can see the body is checked and it's more [Timoko's] arm that's the biggest worry here," the NRL executive said.

"The arm is certainly out across Gilbert's chest. He's then tried to push him away so he's not holding him any longer, and falls on the ball. So that was upheld as a try."

Annesley also responded to "chatter" over Hudson Young's sin-binning "being too harsh" by confirming referee Todd Smith made the right decision because the second-rower was never onside before stopping a try by Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.

"[Young] gets up off the ground, tries to get around the front ... doesn't quite get there, and then makes the tackle anyway," he said.

"He's actually the player that prevents the try from being scored and holds [Tabuai-Fidow] up.

"So as a result of that it was deemed to be a professional foul and a sin bin."

The Raiders are still licking their wounds after the wet and wild 20-14 defeat in Redcliffe gave the Dolphins an unbeaten start in their debut NRL season while the Green Machine are still yet to notch a win.

After spending more than two weeks in camp in Queensland because of their tough opening schedule in Townsville and Redcliffe, the Raiders are finally back home in the capital ahead of their first home clash of the year on Sunday.

The Cronulla Sharks will not be an easy task next up though, especially with in-form fullback Will Kennedy coming off a hat-trick in their win over grand finalists Parramatta.

To make matters worse, the Raiders have a mounting injury list with Ata Mariota out for a stint with a broken hand, joining the still-sidelined first choice fullback Xavier Savage who fractured his jaw in pre-season and veteran prop Josh Papali'i who is yet to play this season due to a calf issue.

Coach Ricky Stuart didn't seem too concerned over the availability of bench big man Corey Horsburgh, although he was banged up by the Dolphins courtesy of a nasty hip-drop tackle by Jeremy Marshall-King that earned him a two-game suspension.

On a more positive note, Jack Wighton received his first two Dally M votes, an improvement on the Raiders getting completely snubbed by voters in their one-point loss to the Cowboys two weeks ago.

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: