http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/league-news/doggies-fans-fight-muzzle-20120807-23sga.html
Doggies fans fight muzzle
Date: August 8, 2012
Brad Walter
Chief Rugby League Writer
ANGERED by revelations that Canterbury have won the penalty count in just three matches this season,
Bulldogs fans have begun a campaign to raise $10,000 to pay the fine imposed on coach Des Hasler for criticising referees.
Remarkably for a team leading the competition and on the verge of winning the minor premiership, Canterbury have won the penalty count in fewer matches than any other side this season.
The Bulldogs are also the second most penalised team in the NRL after Sydney Roosters, while captain Michael Ennis is the most penalised player, along with suspended Penrith five-eighth Travis Burns.
The statistics have infuriated Canterbury supporters, who believe Hasler has now been slugged with a $10,000 fine for daring to question how the NRL's top team could be so offside with referees.
While the Bulldogs have vowed to appeal the fine, a group of passionate fans have pledged $100 each towards the cost of the NRL sanction if the club is unsuccessful in its appeal. By 8pm last night, they had raised $3800.
''Naturally we expect the club to fight this but we want to show them that we feel just as strongly about the current situation as they do,'' long-time Canterbury supporter and season ticket holder Ian Camlett told the Herald. ''We are not a team who should be as heavily penalised as we have been this season. We are disciplined and well coached, yet every game follows the same pattern with us falling well behind in the penalty count before the men in pink try and even up the ledger late in the game.''
According to statistics provided by Sportsdata, the only matches in which Canterbury have won the penalty count this season were against Newcastle in round four, the Roosters in round 12 and the Cowboys in round 21. The Bulldogs have been on the wrong end of the penalty count on 12 occasions and the penalties have been even in five matches.
In total, Hasler's men have conceded 128 penalties - two fewer than the Roosters and four more than Penrith. Ennis and Burns have each been penalised 20 times this season.
Hasler was issued with a breach notice on Monday after he launched a scathing attack on referees Brett Suttor and Jason Robinson, and the overall standard of officiating, at the post-match media conference following Saturday night's 26-10 win over the Knights. ''We are sitting in the top four but we are the most penalised side in the competition,'' Hasler said. ''I don't think we are playing that ill-disciplined football to have that against us.''
Hasler also took aim at Suttor and Robinson, whose performance he described as ''poor'', over a conversation in which he claimed they had said: ''This game is going to change, this game is going to change, this game is going to change … and the next time we get a run of penalties - four penalties - against us. I just can't understand that conversation. Why pre-empt it.''
After reviewing audio from the match, the NRL found that Hasler had given a false account of the on-field discussion between Suttor and Robinson to infer that decisions were predetermined. It also noted the next penalty had been awarded to Canterbury. Bulldogs chief executive Todd Greenberg said Hasler had not intended to imply there had been any bias by the referees or to question their integrity or impartiality.
