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North Queensland coach Todd Payten has joined Ricky Stuart in calls for the NRL Bunker's influence to be addressed.
Coach Todd Payten was a happy man following North Queensland's home 36-16 home win over Newcastle but he's called for more consistency from the NRL's bunker after his side had a contentious second-half try overturned.
Co-captain Jason Taumalolo thought he'd scored in the 65th minute when he looped behind a decoy run by Jeremiah Nanai to crash through Phoenix Crossland one-on-one and roll over the try line.
But in the build-up Nanai and Lachlan Fitzgibbon had collided, with the Bunker ruling the Cowboys' back-rower initiated contact with Fitzgibbon which gained them an advantage.
"Well that's Lachlan Fitzgibbon coming in, that's a defensive read," Fox Sports' Michael Ennis noted in the broadcast.
"You can see in the eyes of Fitzgibbon he was coming in to make the stop, he came out of the line."
Payten agreed.
"Really disappointed it was taken off us. It's just consistently ruled too inconsistent," Payten said of the NRL's video referee.
"The language that the Bunker used was also confusing. To say that Jeremiah initiated contact and I think it was Fitzgibbon that jammed on outside in, and made good contact with his inside shoulder and deviated three four metres off the line.
"That's why I'm so confused and it's just different from game to game and that's what I don't like."
Payten added the Bunker was there to make the right decisions and his side weren't "just getting enough of them."
His comments come after Canberra coach Ricky Stuart called on Thursday for the Bunker to be scrapped after he believed it cost his side a win over the Warriors in round eight.
Stuart told reporters the bunker was "getting it so wrong" and should only adjudicate on potential tries after a late penalty against his side allowed the Warriors to even the scores late, before they won with a golden point.
"I believe the bunker is damaging our game, I don't believe we do need the bunker because they can't get it right," he said.
"I really believe the bunker is getting it so wrong we need to have the bunker only involved in contentious tries."
