Canberra Raiders coach Ricky Stuart has given his “shattered” players the weekend off and will treat them to lunch after Friday’s refereeing debacle.

The Raiders went down to the Cronulla Sharks 28-24 on Friday night in controversial circumstances, all but ending their finals hopes.

Midway through the second half, Sharks winger Sione Katoa was awarded a try by the bunker, after the touch judge incorrectly raised his flag for a knock-on, causing Raiders players to stop defending.

Sione Katoa goes over.#TelstraPremiership#NRLSharksRaiders#NRL pic.twitter.com/BzWQB4ylxH

— NRL (@NRL) July 20, 2018

The blunder was so bad, NRL referees boss Bernard Sutton tried to call Stuart before the post-match press conference to apologise.

Stuart rejected the call and launched a scathing attack on the game’s officiating.

He tells Alan Jones nothing seems to change.

“The times I do go off, it’s frustration more than anything.

“A lot of the times that I’m raising things, you’re raising it at the worst moment because it’s straight after a game and you’ve got to do a press conference, but nothing seems to be ever fixed.”

Stuart thanked Alan for his support over the matter and says he’s doing the same for his shattered players.

“I gave them the weekend off.

“We’re meeting today… I’m actually going to take them for lunch to be quite honest.”

Click PLAY below to hear Ricky Stuart’s phone call in full