Dragons forward Luciano Leilua’s fury has been revealed after his side’s golden point loss to the Bulldogs was marred by controversial calls.
Post-match, coach Shane Flanagan described some of the decisions as “strange” and clearly held back some of his emotions while stating a draw would have been a deserved outcome.
The Dragons made a good account of themselves in Las Vegas with the expectation being that the Bulldogs would win comfortably.
Leilua clearly didn’t care about that perception.
“I couldn’t give a shit what anyone thinks about us,” he told 9News Sydney.
“We didn’t come here to compete, we came here to win.
“(It’s a) long flight home … we didn’t come here to just make numbers, we came here to win. To not be given a f—ing fair shake, like, come on, man.”
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One of the contentious calls was from Stephen Crichton being allowed to stay on the field despite a high shot on Setu Tu.
Crichton avoided being charged by the match review committee for the hit, which stunned Billy Slater.
“I’m actually really surprised that Stephen Crichton didn’t cop any charge in this, even if it’s just a fine,” he said on Nine’s The Billy Slater Podcast.
“I just think that you’ve got a duty of care to a player that has no ability to protect themselves while they’re playing the game.
“Especially under those kicks where you have to plant your feet under those big bombs and you’re there almost defenceless … you’ve got no form of protection. The only protection you have is the rules of the game.”
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