No tantrums no bullshit, just said what I was thinking all game - You watch us put a score on the Knights next week at the fortress:-
Parramatta coach Brad Arthur has defended cheeky halfback Chris Sandow and laid the blame for his sin-binning on referee Ben Cummins.
Arthur admitted that Sandow's 10 minutes on the sideline cost his team dearly in their 46-20 NRL loss to Melbourne at AAMI Park, as the Storm ran in three tries while the Eels were down a man.
Sandow was sin-binned for dissent in the 60th minute when he asked Cummins, "How much are they paying you?" following a penalty against his team.
With the Eels down 24-16 but still in touch, Storm youngster Kurt Mann scored a double following Sandow's departure and prop Bryan Norrie also crossed to set up the match-winning lead.
Arthur said Sandow's offence was "trivial" and he didn't believe it deserved such a penalty.
"No I don't. There needs to be a two-way street with respect shown to the players and the referee," Arthur said.
"It was pretty trivial and we need to grow up a little bit and get on with refereeing the game."
He said he understood Sandow's frustration, despite the penalty count finishing at just 8-7 in favour of the Storm.
"He probably shouldn't have said anything, but the players are out there busting their arse ... they just want an even share of the ball," Arthur said.
"We know we need to be better, but the blokes in pink needed to be better today too."
Parramatta was up against it from kick-off, starved of the ball in the opening half as the home side opened up an 18-0 lead.
Two tries just before the break helped them to 18-10 at half-time.
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Yeah the penalty count ended up 8-7 in their favour, but how many did they purposefully give when we were attacking their line? - Crusher tackle, Slater's dropped ball & another milked penalty, Smith's crap pass that resulted in a penalty & Sandow's binning. - There's penalties & then there's even up penalties.
They gave 4 or 5 in about 5 mins, don't think we got one the last 25mins after we had worked out way back in the game again.
most of those were on the first tackle and all they did was slow down out momentum, they stood offside the whole game and dared the refs to penalise them and we finally got one after 50 odd mins.
In saying thatwe gave up in defence as well