Annesley said it would be "impossible" to declare the Dragons skipper was square at marker on the final play of the game and admitted all three incidents highlighted -could reasonably have been deemed professional fouls.

The Dragons skipper was first called out for being inside the 10 metres, while referee Peter Gough called six-again when Hunt flopped on a completed tackle on Raiders prop Joe Tapine.

Annesley said various camera angles showed Hunt was then not square at marker at the ensuing play-the-ball and should have been penalised for the final tackle on Raiders dummy-half Tom Starling.

Jamal Fogarty would have been at Winx-like odds to nail a penalty from almost in front of the posts to level the scores at 12-all and send the match into golden point. In the end the Dragons claimed a 12-10 win and a crucial two points that pushed them into the top eight, while the Raiders are now four points adrift of eighth spot.

"It's not possible for me to say [Hunt's] square when he moves to chase so, in our view, that should have been a penalty," Annesley said.

"You could see Hunt was standing partially to the side so he can get around and tackle the dummy-half. In most cases we want dummy-halves to be able to clear the ball and in most incidents where you see that type of tackle it will result in a penalty.

"Whichever way the referee went was going to be controversial. It's a relatively close call as to whether he's square or whether he's not. If he gives the penalty there's probably debate about whether the penalty was warranted or not, he doesn't give the penalty there's just as much debate.

"There'll be Dragons fans that will completely disagree with me but we think, having reviewed what we've seen, the correct call would have been a penalty."

For many, the three incidents were indicative of a trend of teams deliberately conceding six-agains to avoid conceding points late in halves, with Felise Kaufusi sin-binned by referee Ashley Klein in those circumstances in Origin II last Sunday.

Read more: Desperate Dragons hold of fast-finishing Raiders in Wollongong

Annesley did not suggest Hunt was guilty of deliberately infringing, but said all three infringements picked up could have resulted in him being marched and potentially left the Dragons heading into a golden-point period without their skipper.

"This is not a bash-up of the Dragons or Ben Hunt," Annesley said.

"None of these determinations by us are intended to be critical of players or individuals. A player is doing everything he can to win the game.

"There comes a point where the referee needs to determine whether [an infringement] is an error by the defender or whether it's a deliberate error in a crucial situation designed to try and stop the [other] team from scoring with seconds left, in which case it can then fall into the category of a professional foul.

"In the case of the offside, the flop, or the not square at marker, any of those three could have been determined to be a professional foul and could have resulted in, not only a penalty, but a sin-bin, which could potentially have taken us into golden point and potentially been 12 on 13 if [Hunt] goes to the sin-bin."

It's an admission sure to further raise the ire of Raiders coach Ricky Stuart who said post-match he expected a Monday "apology or justification" though Annesley did not agree with the assertion Gough lacked the "courage" to make the call so late in the game.

"If you're prepared to go out and cop the barrage of comment about any referee and blow the whistle for 80 minutes... I would never say that someone's not brave enough," Annesley said.

"Some referees are more experienced than others, some referees are more experienced than others in terms of the big moments, but I would never say a referee's not brave, otherwise he wouldn't be on the field.

"These are critical decisions made at critical times in the game and we all hope and pray the referees get these things right. Then there's the category of decision where, no matter which way you go, you're going to get one group of fans or the other thinking the referee got the decision wrong.

"It's the nature of the game. It's professional sport, everyone's trying to win, there's all sorts of implications whether teams win or lose, we get all that, but everyone's out there trying to do their best. The players are, the referees are.

"He decided in this case that the penalty wasn't warranted and we disagree with that assessment."

It's no consolation for the Raiders, with CEO Don Furner saying it's not the first time his side has been dudded on key calls.

"It's happened to us before. It feels like it happens to us more," Furner said.

"I think Rick summed it up in the press conference where he said we'll get an apology today. For me, and a lot of people watching, that it wasn't even a 50-50 call. That was a mandatory penalty every day of the week."

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