The biggest problem with rugby league refereeing (and let's face it the game has a systematic problem with refereeing - almost everyone thinks the standard is bad) is that so many calls are subjective.
Offside - players are inside the 10 about 30 times per game, 1-2 penalties get blown.
Holding down - players get held down excessively about 40 times a game, 1-2 penalties get blown.
High tackles - players get brushed across the neck and head about 25 times a game, 1-2 penalties get blown.
Flops/3rd man in - happens about 50 times per game, 1-2 penalties get blown.
In the old days you had one ref and no referees boss and the deal was that the one ref had to balance things out over the course of the game so no one got shafted. The biggest problem was home ground advantage because things generally levelled out 60/40 in terms of the home team.
Now you have two refs and a video ref there is not as much overall balance. You also have Robert Finch trying to macro-manage the whole setup and he obviously drums in mantras to the refs like "St George are really disciplined and the Roosters are really undisciplined" so that Saints win the penalty count every week (by having one in forty infringements blown against them) whereas the Roosters lose it every week (by having one in twenty blown against them).
Maybe the 'philosophy' is accurate and the Roosters do infringe more and deserve to receive the least amount of penalties in the comp and give away the most. The Roosters went in to the game expecting it to be referreed like that because they've put up with it all season.
It's when you not only get the 5-1 penalty count against (plus the leveller just before full time to make it look better at 5-2) but you get fair tries being pulled pack for flat passes and blokes being over the sideline by a metre and being allowed to play on, that you get the impression it was like the Stawell Gift with the Roosters running off scratch and St George getting a 6m head start. Even though St George ended up winning by 10m and therefore it is unlikely that the result would have changed, it is still a bitter pill to swallow that the game was not refereed equally.