Jared Waerea-Hargreaves has escaped suspension for his foul-mouthed blow-up, with Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson claiming frustration at referee Gerard Sutton was justified.
Robinson argued his star prop was a target for officials, and it was only his expletive delivery that let him down on Saturday.
Waerea-Hargreaves was sin-binned for twice swearing at Sutton in the Roosters' 32-12 loss to Penrith, but the veteran forward was only fined $1800 after the Match Review Committee on Sunday handed him a grade one contrary conduct charge.
Collecting James Fisher-Harris high as the Panthers prop crossed to score late, Waerea-Hargreaves exploded as he was called out to be placed on report and told Penrith would be awarded a potential eight-point try.
Waerea-Hargreaves was not charged for the tackle by the MRC.
He could be heard accusing Sutton of having a vendetta against him, claiming his reputation has contributed to the call.
"Do you reckon every opportunity you get to put me on report (you do). Don't you reckon? I'm just saying," Waerea-Hargreaves could be heard telling Sutton.
"Every time, bro. Every f***king time. It's not fair.
"Every f***ing time, every time."
The incident marked the second time in a row Waerea-Hargreaves has been sin-binned by Sutton against Penrith, after copping similar treatment last year in Queensland.
And while Robinson accepted Waerea-Hargreaves' choice of language was not good enough, he could understand his frustrations and claimed he had no doubt the prop was treated differently by officials.
"You can't speak that way ... he didn't swear at him, he didn't abuse him," Robinson said.
"But he obviously swore in that bit there, and if that is unacceptable, then that is fine.
"And Jared is also right.
"Guys hits guys around the chops all the time, how many eight-point tries have we seen from guys diving in the corner and getting hit in the head?
"If that is James Tedesco doing that he is not on report, that's not a reportable high tackle."
Robinson also agreed there was a suggestion that Waerea-Hargreaves' issues were directed straight at Sutton, rather than all referees in general.
The Roosters coach pointed to Dylan Brown not being charged for a shot that left Sitili Tupouniua late in his team's win over Parramatta last week as an example.
"We had a guy miss this week for being concussed, and it wasn't really spoken about," Robinson said.
"If Jared does that it's a different story.
"That's what he felt, and I think he expressed that clearly and in the wrong way, which got him 10 (minutes) in the bin.
"But how many high shots have we seen or knees, and had penalties? It doesn't happen. But high shots do happen on the goal-line."
