A FURIOUS Ricky Stuart has blown up over the matchwinning field goal which saw his side lose 19-18 to the Panthers on Saturday in Bathurst.

Stuart believes his players were obstructed in their attempt to stop Penrith veteran Peter Wallace kicking the one-pointer with 60 seconds remaining on the clock.

Lead referee Gavin Reynolds referred the incident to the bunker, with replays showing Canberra defender Paul Vaughan being held back by Trent Merrin with Wallace sitting some 10 metres back and set for the kick.

Watch the field goal in the video player above and Ricky Stuart’s comments in the below player.

Round 19

Video referee Luke Patten awarded the drop goal, which in the end proved the difference as Penrith prevailed in another thriller.

“Theirs’ wasn’t a field goal,” Stuart said following the match.

“There’s a new rule in place this year where you’re not allowed to have blockers to impede a player that’s chasing down the kicker of a field goal. We has a player who was impeded by two blockers. We were impeded by a wall of players.

“That’s the rule that you’re not allowed to do anymore — do you want me to repeat it again?

“They’ve got three or four days now to find a reason on why this wasn’t a wall.”

Stuart said he also believed Panthers hooker James Segeyaro was offside when he charged down a field goal attempt from Raiders No. 7 Aidan Sezer, before calling on the NRL to change the current rules that have referees “petrified of making a decision”.

“It’s so disappointing after a game out there where there was a couple of errors by both teams, but they fought hard, put a good show on for the people of Bathurst ... and we’ve got to come in and talk about this crap again. The game needs to do something about it so that we’re not walking in here and talking about this again.

“I feel sorry for a referees. The referees have been pushed into a corner. The referees should’ve ruled on what they had seen instead of sending it to the bunker. They’re that nervous and that petrified of making a decision, the poor buggers.”